For the Love of a Halfa
by Lilith St. James
Summary: Sam gets sucked into the ghost portal and Danny has to save her, but it turns out that Sam also became a halfa in the process. Will it give Danny the courage to tell Sam that he loves her? DannyxSam [COMPLETED]
1. Another Normal Day

-- Author's Note -- Hello to all! I'm happy to present to you my latest obsession, Danny Phantom. After reading a few fanfics I came up with an idea for my own, so here it is. This is my first Danny Phantom Fanfic, so please be nice, but your comments (good or bad) are always welcome! Now, before we get started I would like to ask something of all of you who are reading this. If you read the summary (which I'm sure you did, otherwise you are a very trusting person, thinking a story will be enjoyable just by it's title) you will know that Sam is going to turn into a Halfa. Do you think that Sam Phantom will do for a ghostly nickname, because I thought it was kinda dumb that Tuck started calling himself Tucker Phantom in the episode with the genie. If you like it or have any other ideas please post them in your reviews. Now, as always the disclaimer.  
  
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Danny Phantom, it's characters, or anything having to do with Nickelodeon. I am a college student who works for a little more than minimum wage, so I am always flat broke. It would be a complete waste of your time and energy suing me, so please don't. I do own the idea behind this story however, and that's about it.  
  
Now! On to the theme song!  
  
_(He's a Phantom) Young Danny Fenton, he was just fourteen When his parents built a very strange machine Designed to view a world unseen  
  
(He's gonna catch 'em all cuz he's Danny Phantom)  
  
When it didn't quite work his folks, they just quit But then Danny took a look inside of it There was a great big flash everything just changed His molecules got all rearranged!  
  
(Phantom, Phantom)  
  
When he first woke up He realized he had snow-white hair And glowing green eyes He could walk through walls, Disappear, and fly! He was much more unique than the other guy!  
  
It was then that he knew what he had to do He had to stop all the ghosts That were coming through He's here to fight for me and you!  
  
(He's gonna catch 'em all cuz he's Danny Phantom) (He's gonna catch 'em all cuz he's Danny Phantom) Gonna catch them all cuz he's Danny Phantom._  
  
**Chapter 1 Another Normal Day**  
  
It was a normal Monday morning at Casper High School. Danny, Sam, and Tucker sat in their seats listening to their Social Studies teacher lecture about the Civil War. The whole thing seemed pointless. Tucker pulled out his PDA and began playing a game under the table.  
  
Sam was writing something in her notebook that would look like she was taking notes to anyone other than her two best friends, only they knew that she was making plans for how to get the school to agree to put in a salad bar. After the ordeal with the Lunch Lady ghost when she had tried to change the menu the school changed things back to the way they were before. If they wouldn't change the menu they could at least put in a salad bar, she was sick of having to bring lunch from home.  
  
Danny stared at the blackboard in a half sleeping daze. At least until Dash, who sat a couple rows behind the trio, flicked an eraser at the back of Danny's head. He rubbed the back of his head getting annoyed at Dash and the fact that if he said anything the teacher would yell at him and not Dash.  
  
He grinned to himself. Danny decided that he would get Dash back before lunch. It had to be something new though, he had pushed Dash into lockers a few too many times and now Dash could break out of them easily.  
  
Taking a piece of paper out of his folder Danny wrote Tucker a note asking for some ideas as to what to do to Dash. Once he was finished he passed it to Tucker, who sat to his left, under the table. Sam gave him a questioning look from her seat to his right, but Danny just smiled at her looking into her purple eyes.  
  
The three of them had been friends forever, but ever since they had started high school Danny was unsure as to how he really felt about Sam. He got butterflies in his stomach whenever he looked at her and loved to see her smile, but they were just friends. Right? Danny wasn't sure anymore.  
  
Whether or not Danny liked Sam didn't matter though. Even though Sam knew about his secret he doubted that she would ever care for him as more than a friend like he was now. Danny Fenton was the ghost super hero, Danny Phantom.  
  
When the bell rang everyone got up and filed out of the classroom. The group had English next before lunch. During class Tucker gave Danny the idea of pulling down Dash's pants in front of everyone during lunch. Danny thought that it might just be cruel enough to work. So they all sat through another long class until the bell rang signaling lunch.  
  
Danny, Sam, and Tucker went to Danny's locker and hung around until everyone else was gone. "Would you mind explaining to me what you two are planning?" Sam asked.  
  
"You'll see, don't worry. Come on now Danny, everyone's gone."  
  
Danny nodded, "I'm going ghost!" In a weird flash Danny changed into Danny Phantom then went invisible. He followed Sam and Tucker to the lunchroom then headed off to find Dash. While Danny floated up near the ceiling Dash headed over to Sam and Tucker who were taking seats at their normal table.  
  
"Where's Fenton? I have something for him."  
  
"Danny's not here," Sam stated calmly, not looking up from her lunch.  
  
Dash laughed, "Not know where your boyfriend is? Then how can you be sure that he's not cheating on you?"  
  
"DANNY IS NOT MY BOYFRIEND!" Sam shouted. It was moments like this that Danny knew he had no possibility of getting any feelings, other than friendship, returned to him even if he did like Sam. Shaking his head Danny woke himself from his thoughts and decided it was time to get down to business.  
  
He flew down behind Dash and gave a tug on Dash's pants causing them to fell to his feet. "What the?!?!" Dash yelled.  
  
The whole lunchroom broke out laughing. Dash wore little ducky underpants. This was better than Danny thought it was going to be, but instead of staying to watch he flew out into the empty hallway and changed back before walking into the lunchroom.  
  
"FENTON!"  
  
"Yes Dash?"  
  
"You did this! I know that you did!"  
  
"Did what Dash? I was in my English class asking my teacher a question."  
  
Dash just got angrier but instead of doing something he marched off into the hallway. Danny walked over to Sam and Tucker who were still giggling.  
  
"Okay, that was good," Sam said finally calming down.  
  
"Sorry about that," Danny said.  
  
"About what?"  
  
"What Dash said about us, he can be really dumb sometimes."  
  
"Don't worry about it, I know it's not your fault."  
  
"Yeah, but I know you don't like it."  
  
Sam just nodded and returned to her food.  
  
"That was great Danny! I can't believe it! People will be laughing at him for at least a week! That was totally cool."  
  
Danny went slightly pink and said "Thanks."  
  
"So anyway, what are we going to do tonight? Movies?"  
  
"Movies are fine. What do you think Sam?"  
  
"Yeah, okay," she said not looking up.  
  
"Your house then Danny?"  
  
"Okay, sounds good."  
  
The group walked over to Danny's house after the last bell had rung, releasing them for the day. Along the way Sam told them about a new exhibit at the museum.  
  
"It should be really cool. It's about the Red Data animals of Japan."  
  
"Red Data animals?" Tucker asked.  
  
"Yeah! They're endangered species. Like the Iriomote Wildcat or the Ultramarine Lorikeet."  
  
"That sounds really interesting. Maybe we should go sometime Sam," Danny said. Deep inside he knew that he said that because he wanted to see her smile.  
  
"Really? That would be so nice of you guys to come with me. I've got three tickets for this weekend!"  
  
"Somehow I think you were going to make us go anyway," Tucker informed her.  
  
This made Sam blush, "No, of course not!"  
  
The group filed inside Danny's house and started up the stairs towards Danny's room until Danny's father yelled at them from the basement.  
  
Danny led the way downstairs to the lab where his parents built different things for catching ghosts. He hoped that it wasn't something dangerous again.  
  
"Danny! Come and see what I've just finished. I upgraded the Fenton Gabber!"  
  
"That's great Dad," Danny said.  
  
"That's great Dad. FEAR ME!!"  
  
The three of them jumped as the Fenton Gabber shouted back at them.  
  
"Damn. That soda gets me every time. Hold this," Jack said handing the Fenton Gabber to Danny and running off upstairs.  
  
"You're dad isn't the brightest bulb on the tree, is he?" Tucker asked.  
  
"Thankfully, no. Let's go watch our movie now," Danny said setting down the Fenton Gabber on one of the tables.  
  
"What was that?" Sam asked walking towards the Ghost Portal.  
  
"What was what?" Tucker asked turning around.  
  
"Be careful Sam," Danny said watching her.  
  
Sam walked over and peered into the Ghost Portal. "I swear I saw something moving in-"Sam started but never finished. A huge tentacle came out of the portal and grabbed Sam around the waist before pulling her inside the portal.  
  
"SAM!" 


	2. Another Halfa?

-- Authors Note -- Hello again, and thank you all for reviewing! I dont think Ive ever had so many reviews in one day! I would also like to give a special thanks to samanddanny and Kraven the Hunter for their great ideas. Here is the latest chapter, which I hope you all enjoy. For now, happy reading and even happier reviewing. Ill see you soon in the next chapter.  
  
DISCLAIMER THINGY: I do not own Danny Phantom; if I did I would probably be rich. I do not own the Danny Phantom characters; if I did I probably wouldn't be in school either. I do own the idea behind this fanfic and that's it.  
  
**Chapter 2 Another Halfa?**  
  
"SAM!" Danny and Tucker yelled at the same time.  
  
"I'm going ghost!" Danny yelled transforming.  
  
Just as he was about to jump into the portal after her, Sam came flying out. Danny instead took off after her and caught her before she hit the wall.  
  
"Sam? Sam wake up," Danny said laying her down on the ground and changing back.  
  
"She's out cold. We better take her up to your room," Tucker said.  
  
Sam groaned as she opened her eyes. What had happened? She could hardly remember.  
  
"Sam? Are you all right?" Danny asked. He was sitting next to her on his bed.  
  
"Why am I in your bed Danny?" Sam asked the first thing that came to mind, and then started blushing realizing what she just asked and where she was.  
  
"Something pulled you into the Ghost Zone and spit you back out. You've been out cold for a few hours now."  
  
"What time is it?"  
  
"Almost 3 a.m."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Don't worry. I called your parents and told them that we had a project we were working on and they said it was all right for you to sleep over."  
  
"Where's Tucker?" she asked sitting up. Lying down was starting to give her a headache.  
  
"He went home at about 10:30 when his parents called."  
  
"Have you been sitting here this whole time?"  
  
Danny nodded, and she suddenly felt completely embarrassed.  
  
"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Danny."  
  
"Don't worry Sam. It's not your fault. Are you feeling any better?"  
  
"Yeah. What was that thing in the portal?"  
  
"We don't know."  
  
"What's wrong?" Sam asked reading the worried look on Danny's face.  
  
"Sam, there's something I have to tell you," he said turning away. Why was he embarrassed? Sam thought. Then her heart skipped a beat. He couldn't be trying to tell her that he liked her, could he?  
  
Sam had started getting weird feelings for Danny every since they started high school, but she was sure that things would never change from just being friends so she had to hide her feelings. Could it be possible that he feels the same way about me?  
  
"You can tell me anything Danny. What is it?"  
  
"Sam... I-I..." Danny paused and frowned. He sighed and continued, "Something happened when you got sucked into the portal. Tuck thinks that it might be because humans can't enter the Ghost Zone without that Specter Speeder. It most likely has some kind of barrier built it or something."  
  
"I'm not following you Danny."  
  
He took another deep breath. "Sam, just know that I'm here for you and we'll work through this together."  
  
"Work through what?"  
  
"Sam, when you came out of the portal you... Well, you were ghost."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"You had transformed."  
  
"But I don't have ghost powers. How could I have transformed?"  
  
"Tuck thinks that something happens when a human enters the Ghost Zone. Nothing happened when you guys went in on the Specter Speeder because it probably has a barrier or shield to protect the people inside it."  
  
"Then why didn't anything happen to you when you transformed back into a human inside the Ghost Zone?"  
  
"Because I was already a Halfa."  
  
Sam pulled her knees in close and hugged them, deep in thought. Could she really have ghost powers like Danny? Maybe it was just a freak thing. But what if it wasn't? Did she even want to be a Halfa? She already had enough problems at home; she really didn't need this too. What if her parents found out?  
  
"Sam?"  
  
A tear began to fall down her cheek.  
  
"It's all right Sam," Danny said pulling her close into an embrace. "Tucker and I are here for you and if something did happen and you are part ghost now I'll help you through it. Okay?"  
  
Sam was now completely balling into Danny's shoulder but she managed to give a small nod. He rubbed her back and told her it was okay until she stopped crying.  
  
"Better?"  
  
Sam nodded then went slightly pink. Danny had been holding her, comforting her. Had Danny ever seen her cry before? Was he doing it because he cared about her as more than a friend, or just because they were friends?  
  
"It's all right Sam. Don't be embarrassed, everyone cries sometime. And I'll always be here for you to cry to whenever you need me."  
  
She smiled, "Thank you Danny."  
  
"Okay now, I think we should get some sleep. We have school in the morning, and then after school Tucker's going to try and figure out a way to test and see if you really are a Halfa or not, all right?"  
  
"Yeah. That sounds like a plan."  
  
"Okay, I'm gonna go sleep on the couch if you need me," Danny said standing up and heading over to the door. He stopped and turned to look at her. "Good night Sam, sleep tight."  
  
"Good night Danny," she said as he shut the door behind him.  
  
Sam listened to his footsteps going downstairs. After they had stopped she sighed aloud.  
  
"This is way to much to deal with right now. However, on the bright side I'm in Danny's bed," she giggled to herself. She laid down and curled up under the covers. She breathed in deep and smelled nothing but Danny. This was surely heaven, at least until morning. 


	3. The New Team

-- Authors Note -- Thanks again for all the wonderful reviews! Ive been working non-stop all day because the ideas just keep following! Well just keep out fingers crossed that I dont run out of juice too soon, hmm? LoL. So please keep on reviewing, because the more you review, the sooner you get new chapters.   
  
**Danny:** You know, it's not nice to force your readers into doing things like that.  
  
**MoonHawke: ** What do you mean? I'm the author, I can put a review limit for new chapters if I wanted to.  
  
**Danny:** But that wouldn't be nice. Now can we please get started?  
  
**MoonHawke:** Yeah, yeah. I don't own Danny Phantom, if I did I wouldn't share him with you all. I do own the storyline, but I think I'll share that with you anyway. Enjoy!  
  
**Chapter 3 The New Team**  
  
Downstairs Danny lay on the couch thinking about everything that had happened. Neither he nor Tucker had noticed Sam's change until they had gotten her upstairs into Danny's room. His heart had skipped a beat as he looked at her. White hair, black tank top, black skirt with silver trim, silver tights, black boots with silver soles, and silver bracelets. _(Author's Note: I've drawn up a pic of Danny and Sam in their ghost form. It might look slightly strange because it's in anime style and not the style of the show, but I hope you like it. Check it out at: www . angelfire . com / magic2 / moonhawke / GoingGhost . jpg)_  
  
Those few minutes that he held her while she cried to him had to be the best moments of his life. He could hardly believe that she trusted him enough to cry to him. The whole thing made his heart ache terribly.  
  
What if there was a possibility that Sam was a Halfa? He told himself that he could help her learn to use her powers. They could even find new ones together. They could really fight ghosts as a team now. And maybe, just maybe he could tell her the truth. He could tell her that he liked her as more than a friend. Would there even be a possibility that she liked him back? After all who else did they have aside from each other?  
  
Of course Danny also had to realize that there was a possibility that it had just been something that entered her body and was gone now. Before Tucker had gone home Sam had changed back to her normal self. It could have all just been some kind of freak accident.  
  
It was also possible that Sam wouldn't accept it and wouldn't want to be a Halfa. Would she blame him? And if she didn't want to live in his world would they be able to find a way to change her back? If they did it might even be possible to change himself back. He could go back to being a normal teenager. But did he even want that? He had started to feel responsible to protecting everyone. If he wasn't there to stop all the evil ghosts, who would be?  
  
Danny rolled over and decided that they would deal with it when it came up. For right now he had to sleep. Sam was going to need him tomorrow. He had to be strong for her.  
  
The next morning Danny and Sam walked to school together. Most of the way Danny was trying to keep himself from trying to hold her hand. He was still suppose to be her friend. He had to support her and show her that he cared for her, but that was surely crossing the line.  
  
When they reached the block that the school was on Sam stopped.  
  
"Danny, I don't know if I can do this. I don't think that I can face them."  
  
He put a hand on her shoulder and looked into her purple eyes. "I know that you can do this. We don't even know if it's for sure or not. Tucker said it might have just been a freak accident. But if you are, then we'll start with lesson one of being a Halfa."  
  
Sam grinned at him. "What's lesson one?"  
  
"Don't worry. It's when you worry that your powers start to do things on their own. If you don't worry about your powers going nuts, then they won't. If you do, then they will. And if they do, come and find me and we'll get through it then. All right?"  
  
She smiled now, "Okay! We'll do it together!"  
  
They headed to first period and took their normal seats. Tucker didn't arrive until just before the bell rang.  
  
"Sorry guys," he said out of breath. "I was up late working on a new program for my computer that might be able to test Sam for anything unusual."  
  
She smiled at him, "Thanks Tucker."  
  
Things went smoothly for the rest of the day, except for lunch. Sam had freaked out because she had forgotten about going home to get her lunch for the day. Danny however surprised her by having brought 2 ultra-recyclo vegetarian lunches that he had packed before they left.  
  
After school they headed over to Tucker's to see if his computer program would be any help.  
  
"Okay, first we start with a bit of Danny's DNA," Tucker said plucking one of Danny's hairs.  
  
"Ow, that hurt."  
  
"Sorry. Okay, and I put that into the DNA analyzer."  
  
"Tucker."  
  
"Yes Sam?"  
  
"Why do you have a DNA analyzer?"  
  
"I got it free in a box of cereal," he joked. "Okay, here we go," he said as the information came up on the screen.  
  
He then plucked one of his own hairs and put it into the computer as well.  
  
"Okay, you see here that there are some slightly differences between Danny's and mine DNA because of the ghost DNA mixed with his," Tucker said pointing out a couple spikes on the screen.  
  
"So what we do is put a piece of your DNA into the computer and compare it with ours to see which it's closer too."  
  
Sam nodded and pulled out a piece of her hair, which she gave to Tucker. He put it into the computer.  
  
After a couple minutes of Tucker toying with it he finally go the three DNA patterns to over lay each other. "There we go, now let's get it to find the similarities," he said keying something into the computer.  
  
Something came up on the screen and Tucker got really quiet while he read what had come up.  
  
Danny took Sam's hand, half hoping she would be a Halfa, and half hoping she wouldn't be.  
  
"What does it say?" Sam asked, her voice slightly shaking.  
  
"Okay, first here's Danny's DNA," Tucker said changing the screen to show a pattern of different spikes. "The really high ones here," he pointed to the ones near the top of the screen. "Those are the ghost DNA. Now mine," he pulled up another chart of spikes. "My DNA only has short spikes. Sam's here," Tucker pulled up the third and final pattern. It almost completely matched Danny's. "Well, you can see."  
  
"So I'm really a Halfa?"  
  
"It appears to be that way Sam." Tucker paused for a moment while Danny just watched Sam. "Are you okay?"  
  
"I think so. I mean I don't know how this is going to change things, but it might be something really good. Who knows, maybe if I get good enough at using my powers I can help out and give Danny a break every now and then," she laughed.  
  
She really seems to be taking this well, Danny thought. He smiled at her, "I'll do everything I can to help you out Sam, and I'm sure Tucker will too. I'll be here for you anytime; all you have to do is call... Well, except for the middle of the night when my parents are sleeping. I doubt they want anyone calling at one in the morning."  
  
"Of course, Danny," she smiled. "Come on, let's go shopping. I feel the need to be moving." Sam got up and grabbed Danny's hand and began to pull him downstairs leaving Tucker to follow.  
  
"Hey! Wait for me!"  
  
The group first stopped at the food court and got something to eat. While they ate the Box Ghost showed up trying to frighten everyone.  
  
"I am the Box Ghost! Fear me!"  
  
No one but the three of them noticed him.  
  
"What do you want know?" Danny asked him.  
  
"Fear me!"  
  
"You're not scary though," Tucker stated in between bites of his hamburger.  
  
"But I am the Box Ghost!"  
  
"Boxes aren't scary," Sam said now.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"No, so will you just go back to the Ghost Zone and let us eat?" Danny asked.  
  
"You have defeated me, for now. But the Box Ghost shall return!" he shouted flying off.  
  
"Whatever," they all said as one.  
  
After they finished eating Tucker said that he wanted to go check out the video game store. "I need a new game for my PDA, I've already beaten all the ones I already have."  
  
"Okay, sure. Are you coming Sam?"  
  
"Actually I have a couple things I have to pick up."  
  
"Well, we can all go and grab them together afterwards," Danny offered.  
  
Sam blushed, "I don't think you'd want to. You might get embarrassed."  
  
Tucker elbowed Danny and whispered, "I think she's talking about girly things, let's go before she takes you up on that offer!"  
  
Danny just laughed, "Okay, okay. So where should we met you then after we're done?"  
  
"How about Gothic Haven?" she asked giving them the name of her favorite store.  
  
"Sounds good. See you there."  
  
The boys went to the Gamers Cauldron that was a few stores down from the food court. "She's really taking this rather well," Tucker said once Sam was out of hearing range.  
  
"Unlike some people I know," Danny grinned.  
  
"Hey is it my fault I just wanted to have some fun?"  
  
"I pled the fifth," Danny laughed until Tucker gave him a playful punch.  
  
As they entered the store Danny started to worry about Sam. What if something happened and he wasn't there to help her? What if her powers went all out of control and she freaked out? "So, uh, what game are you going to get?" Danny asked.  
  
"Danny, calm down. Sam is going to be fine. It's only like 10 minutes."  
  
"I am calm."  
  
"You're worried about her. I am too, but worrying it's going to help."  
  
The two boys looked around for a while until Tucker finally picked out a game, Vampire Piggy Hunter. Once he had paid for it they headed down a dozen more shops to Gothic Haven.  
  
Sam was already there looking through the tank tops when they arrived. "Hey Sam," Tucker said. She smiled at the two boys and told them she would just be another minute.  
  
"Take your time," Danny told her. She had a couple bags in her arms for stores that he had never heard of. "Do you want some help with your bags?" he offered.  
  
She smiled at him like she had a secret, "Thanks, but it's okay, I've got them."  
  
He nodded and they two boys helped her pick out a couple new tank tops before she paid for them and they headed back out into the hall.  
  
"So what else did you get?" Tucker asked.  
  
"Just some junk. Did you get a new game?"  
  
"Yeah, it's something called Vampire Piggy Hunter. You have to shot all the Vampire pigs to get to new levels and stuff like that."  
  
"Sounds like almost every other game," she laughed.  
  
"Yeah, but this one has better graphics."  
  
The three of them headed back to Danny's house, which they found completely empty. "Mom and Dad must be out chasing ghosts again," Danny said as they went upstairs to his room.  
  
"Oh before I forget, I got something for you guys," Sam said as she sat down on Danny's bed and Tucker took a seat at Danny's desk.  
  
She grabbed one of her bags and pulled out two boxes, which she handed to each of them. "What is it?" Danny asked.  
  
"They're cell phones, so we can call each other whenever they're a ghost or something."  
  
Danny and Tucker opened their boxes and pulled out the small portable phones, both of which had a ghost design faceplate. "Wow, this is really cool Sam," Tucker said.  
  
She smiled, "I'm glad you like them, I got one too." She pulled out another matching phone. "Here's let's put our phone numbers into the phones," she said taking the phones from the boys and began plugging in numbers. 


	4. Training the Newbie

-- Authors Note -- Hey all! Thank you again for all the wonderful reviews! And yes, Vampire Piggy Hunter was in reference to Invader Zim. I wondered if any of you would catch that because no one caught the reference in Chapter 1. LoL. Anyway, as a couple of you mentioned in your reviews Danny and Sam will be starting Halfa lessons. Theyre probably not going to be very exciting, but I promise theyll get better in the chapters to come, all right? Just bear with me. Anyway, heres the new chapter! I hope it runs smoothly... I actually slept between writing this and the last chapter.  
  
**Chapter 4 Training the Newbie**  
  
Danny, Sam, and Tucker watched the movie they had been planning on watching the night before. After it was over Tucker said that he was going to go home to do somemore research on what had happened.  
  
Danny and Sam walked him to the door and said goodbye. "So, what do you want to do now?" Danny asked shutting the door.  
  
"Well, Great Master Halfa, what's lesson two?" she joked. Danny went bright red and mumbled something about not being all that great or a master of anything.  
  
Sam just laughed and asked him again what lesson two was. "Umm... I honestly haven't thought that far ahead."  
  
Sam smiled sweetly at him, thinking he was cute, even if he was clueless sometimes.  
  
"Well, how about teaching me to transform?"  
  
"That would be a good start." Sam laughed and told him to lead the way upstairs.  
  
Danny shut the door to his bedroom behind them in case his parents came while they were practicing. Sam sat down on his bed again, remembering the night before when she has slept there. She went slightly pink at the thought.  
  
"Don't be embarrassed Sam, I had to learn how to control my powers too."  
  
"Yeah, I know," she said, again thinking how clueless he was at times. Practicing isn't what's embarrassing, it's being so close to him with no one else here. What if I slip up and do something I shouldn't?  
  
"Okay, now mainly it's all about state of mind. You have to think of yourself transforming and let it happen."  
  
"Be one with the ghost?" Sam joked.  
  
Danny laughed, "Yeah, that's exactly it."  
  
Sam stood up and smoothed her skirt. "Okay, you first."  
  
He nodded, "Now, you don't have to say anything to make it happen, I just like too because it helps me get in that frame of mind." Sam nodded. "Okay, I'm going ghost!"  
  
In a flash of light Danny transformed into his alter ego, Danny Phantom. "See? It's easy. Now you try."  
  
"Okay." She took a deep breath. "I'm going ghost!" There was a flash of light but nothing happened.  
  
"That was a good start, try focusing a little harder and try again."  
  
For half an hour they practiced, a couple times something would change like a boot or her skirt, but it was never a complete transformation.  
  
"You're getting better Sam. Do you want to take a break?"  
  
"Okay, but let me try one more time." Danny nodded. Sam took another deep breath and focused all of her energy. She closed her eyes and said, "I'm going ghost!"  
  
There was another flash of light and Danny gave a small gasp. Sam opened her eyes and looked at him, "Did it work?"  
  
He smiled at her and told her to look in the mirror. Looking back at her was her ghost form. White hair, black and silver clothing that looked like her normal outfit, and glowing yellow eyes.  
  
"Oh my gosh. I did it Danny!" she cried and jumped into his arms hugging him tightly.  
  
He smiled and hugged her back, "Yes you did Sam, you really did it."  
  
Once she let go of him she returned to the mirror to look at herself again.  
  
"This is my outfit? Jeez, I look kinda dorky. Oh well, at least it's not spandex," she joked.  
  
"Hey!" Danny said.  
  
"Kidding, just kidding. Spandex looks cute on you."  
  
Danny blushed and Sam gave him a playful punch in the arm. After they had transformed back they went downstairs to raid the kitchen.  
  
The pair of them grabbed some sodas and a bag of chips then went back up to Danny's room to watch another movie. Sam had found some old movie called 'Ghost' about a guy that dies and finds out these bad guys are trying to kill the woman that he loves, so he has to go to a psychic and try to get her to help save the woman that he loves.  
  
Sam sat close to Danny on his bed and he put his arm around her. Maybe this is it, she thought. Maybe he really does like me! But what should I do? Should I tell him, but isn't it polite to let the guy goes first? Would it be better to kiss him and see what happens? Her mind was spinning with hundreds of questions that she didn't hear what Danny said.  
  
"I'm sorry, what did you say Danny?" Maybe he's going to tell me that he likes me! Her heart was beating a thousand times a minute. She wished he would just tell her, but she wanted this moment to last forever.  
  
"I said that I'm really proud of you Sam. I know that you didn't ask for any of this, but you've been such a wonderful friend. I don't think I could have gotten as far as I have without you, so I just want you to know that I'll help you with anything. I'll always be there for you, all you have to do is ask."  
  
Sam smiled even though she felt like crying inside. "Thank you Danny. You have no idea how much it means to have a friend like you. And I want to help you; I want you to have someone that knows what you're going through. I'll always be willing to lend you a hand." She hugged him tight and closed her eyes, breathing in his scent. He always smelled so wonderful, not that she could ever tell him that.  
  
While they watched the rest of the movie Sam's mind kept wandering. Part of her felt like she was only accepting the fact that she was now part ghost because it meant that she could be closer to Danny. She would know what he was going through and be able to be there for him. He was certainly being there for her. She just wished that it was possible to read his mind or something.  
  
For moments it seemed like Danny really did care about her as more than a friend, but then it was like he threw up a barrier, as if he had messed up. Had she been doing that too? She just wanted to know what he felt for her. If he told her that he only wanted to be friends, wouldn't that make it easier?  
  
She would know then, no more of these guessing games. Then she would know the boundaries instead of trying to figure them out by over stepping them every so often. However, usually when she did he would do something so friend like that she thought he was pushing her back.  
  
Like how she had snuggled up close to him while they watched the movie. Yeah, he put his arm around her, but what he had said to her. That was purely friendship talking.  
  
Sam decided that she should head home after the movie. So while the credits rolled she grabbed her things and Danny walked her to the door.  
  
"Thanks Danny, for everything," she said giving him a hug.  
  
"Anything for you Sam. Be careful, all right?"  
  
"I'm always careful. Good night, sleep well."  
  
"You too Sam. Night."  
  
She walked alone down the street towards her house, her mind spinning with more thoughts. Sam thought that for a second, when he had said 'anything for you Sam,' that he really meant it in a way other than friendship.  
  
How could she go on like this? Not knowing? She sighed and entered her house then headed up to her room. She turned the stereo on and sat down on her bed. Picking up her pillow and holding it close, she took a deep breath and sighed again.  
  
She would never be able to sleep after last night in Danny's bed. Maybe next time she went over to his house she could dig through the bathroom and find out what kind of shampoo he used or something like that. "No, that's a stupid idea. Besides, it wouldn't be the same."  
  
Sam flopped onto her back and stared at the ceiling. If only she could find out the truth. It was a possibility of asking Tucker if he knew anything, or could find out something, but then he'd probably make fun of her. After almost a full year of trying to correct people it really looked as if she didn't care about him as more than a friend.  
  
Maybe she could find out how to get into Tucker's body and control him. She had seen Danny do it loads of times. It couldn't be that hard, could it? Being Tucker would be hard.  
  
There had to be a better idea of getting close to Danny. But how? If only there was some way to get near him without him noticing her.  
  
That's when it hit her. It was so simply. After all it was one of the first things that Danny had learned to do. It might take all night, but she was sure that she could do it if she put her mind to it and worked at it. After all, Danny said that it was just a frame of mind, right?  
  
Sam got up and stood in front of the mirror. She smiled at herself and said, "I'm going ghost!" 


	5. Mystery in the Night

-- Authors Note -- Sorry for the delay in posting this. Just a small case of writers block. Nothing too bad though. I got the idea for part of this chapter from another Danny Phantom fanfic, but I dont remember what its called or who its by! Otherwise I swear that Id give you credit! So if you know the fanfic please tell me so that I can give credit where its due. Of course my version of events arent quite so... whats the word Im looking for?... oh yeah, perverted. Anyway, I really like this chapter, and I hope you do too. I think its funny and cute. Now, for those of you who were wondering What about the bad guy? Wheres the bad guy in this story? You cant have Danny Phantom not- fight somebody. Well, maybe youre not thinking it in those same words, but something close. Well, heres the bad guy in this chapter! I got the names from the Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook that I took from my brother to look up cool names for characters. These two were high on my list, so I used them here. Theres nothing really important about them. I was originally thinking of using Captain Jack Sparrow, as a ghost of course, but couldnt bring myself to do it. First Id have to admit that I dont own PotC, or Jack Sparrow, or Johnny Depp. But Im not about to do that. Heehee. Also, I just really couldnt make Jack Sparrow into a bad guy, no matter how hot he is.  
  
**Danny:** Not as hot as me, I hope.  
  
**MoonHawke:** No, of course not Danny. I love you more than Johnny.  
  
**Jack:** Ahem. That's –captain- Jack Sparrow luv.  
  
**MoonHawke:** Sorry! Sorry, Captain Jack Sparrow. Okay, now let's get on with the chapter before I wreck the whole thing!  
  
**Chapter 5 Mystery in the Night**  
  
After Sam left Danny went back up to his room. He turned off the movie and the TV before sitting down to finish up his English homework for tomorrow. It was hard though because if he let his mind wander too far he would end up writing 'Sam' all over the page.  
  
Finally after the third time of doing so he ripped out the page and crumpled it into a ball then threw it into the garbage can. He didn't know how much longer he could take it.  
  
During the movie Sam was so close to him, he couldn't help himself he had to touch her. He put his arm around her, but then he had to be all friendly so it didn't look like it really meant.  
  
He heard Jasmine come in and went downstairs to see what she had been up too. "Hey Jazz. Where have you been? Doing more research?"  
  
"Yeah. I swear though, Dash is un-tutorable. This is completely killing my thesis."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
She quirked her eyebrow at him. "What's going on? What have you been doing all day?"  
  
"Well, Tuck, Sam, and I watched a movie, then Sam and I watched another one after Tucker went home. Nothing big."  
  
She grinned at him, "Why do I fell like you're bringing this up for another reason?"  
  
"Umm..."  
  
"You can tell me Danny. I promise not to tell Mom and Dad."  
  
"Okay, well let's say you liked this person, you're liked them for a long time. And there was something about you that you thought would keep them from liking you."  
  
"Like what? A wart or something?"  
  
"Something like that. Then say you find out that they have the same thing that you have but thought that they couldn't like you for."  
  
"So you both have warts?"  
  
"Kind of. Now, you're not sure if they like you as more than a friend or not, but you also don't want to wreck the friendship if they don't. What should you do?"  
  
Jazz smiled at him sweetly, "Danny, Danny, don't worry so much about it. I think that you should tell Sam that you like her, even if she doesn't like you back, because then at least you know. You follow me?"  
  
"Yeah, but how did you know it was Sam?"  
  
"Because I've seen the way you two look at each other when you're over here. Just tell her the truth."  
  
"Thanks. Good night Jazz."  
  
"Good night Danny."  
  
Danny went upstairs felling better. He should tell Sam. The only question was how, and when? It had to be soon, the not knowing was killing him.  
  
He plopped down onto his bed and buried his face in his pillow. He took a deep breath and paused. It smelled like Sam, his whole bed smelled like Sam. He made a small groan in longing. All he wanted to do was hold her and be close to her. Why was that so hard?  
  
It was hard for him to tell when she looked more beautiful, as human or ghost. He had been looking into her purple eyes for almost a year, but there was something eerily beautiful about the glowing yellow eyes of her ghost form.  
  
Danny sat up and looked at the clock, it was nearly midnight. Downstairs he heard his parents come in. He got up and went over to his desk to look over his paper one last time. He heard his mom and dad talking with Jazz for a few minutes then all of them came upstairs and headed to bed. Jazz came in to wish him good night again before going to bed.  
  
"I better get to sleep too," Danny thought out loud. He stood up and pulled off his shirt. A breeze came in the window that sounded like a small gasp. That's weird, he thought going over to shut the window.  
  
After throwing his shirt on the back of his chair, Danny climbed into bed. Oh man, this is so wonderful, he thought taking in another deep breath. He'd probably never be able to sleep though once his scent replaced hers, but for right now it was wonderful.  
  
While drifting off to sleep he could have sworn that he felt someone climb into bed with him and wrap their arms around him. "Umm... Sam..." he whispered for giving himself over to his dreams.  
  
The next morning Danny woke up with a small start. He had been dreaming about Sam, but then all of the sudden it had started snowing in his dream. Why was he so cold?  
  
Looking around Danny saw that the window was open. "That's odd, I thought I shut that. Oh well," he said getting up and going over to shut the window.  
  
The sun was coming up in the distance but Danny turned away and looked around his room. It was almost sickenly clean. His mom had made him clean the past weekend because of company, but he hadn't really had a chance to trash it back up again. Well, at least other than that piece of paper on the floor.  
  
"Wait, I didn't put any paper on the floor." He picked it up and saw that it was what had once been his English paper. Looking it over he sighed. "Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam. Sam and Danny? Okay, I'm pretty sure I didn't write that."  
  
Under one of his random 'Sam's someone had written 'and Danny' in neat handwriting that was nothing like his. They had also added a heart around it for affect. Danny then laughed, "It was probably Jazz. I'll have to get her back later."  
  
That didn't stop him from ripping the heart out and putting it into his notebook. Danny went to take a shower before Jazz got up and starting hogging the bathroom, like she did almost every morning.  
  
When he returned to his room his cell phone was going off. He smiled; thinking about Sam for a moment, then noticed that the id said it was Tucker.  
  
"Hey Tuck, what's up?"  
  
"Nothing, did I wake you?"  
  
"Nope, I just got out of the shower."  
  
"Good. Listen I found something out about that tentacle."  
  
"Really? That's great."  
  
"Yeah, I'll print it out and bring it to school, okay?"  
  
"Sounds good. I'll see you there."  
  
Danny hung up the phone and started getting dressed. He changed his socks and pants, and then went over in front of the mirror to brush his hair.  
  
Downstairs someone knocked on the door and Jazz answered it. Danny figured it was one of her friends, when they started talking so he just ignored it and kept brushing his hair.  
  
A minute later the door to his room opened and Sam walked in. He dropped his brush as it fazed through his hand. "Oh my gosh! I'm sorry Danny! I thought you were up and ready to go," she babbled, going bright red and turning away from him.  
  
"Don't worry about it Sam. It's not like I'm naked or something," he joked. "Lemme grab a shirt and we can head out."  
  
She nodded, but didn't turn around until Danny had put his shirt on. "Ready?"  
  
"Yeah, let's go," he said ushering her out. He just remembered that he had forgotten to throw that paper out.  
  
They said goodbye to Jazz as they headed out. Half way to school they ran into Tucker. They all talked and joked around for the rest of the way.  
  
The trio arrived early to their first hour so Tucker pulled out the print outs that he had found the night before and showed them to Danny and Sam.  
  
"It says that the tentacle belongs to this giant squid thing, where did it say what is was called?" Tucker said pulling the paper closer to look it over. "Oh, here it is. Enialis the giant squid. He's hunted by Rurik the pirate, and for those who are unfortunate to come across Enialis, they too will be hunted by Rurik."  
  
"That doesn't sound good Sam," Danny said getting worried.  
  
"No, but I mean it's been two days and nothing bad has happened, right?"  
  
"Yes, but we don't know when Rurik will come after you. I think you two might want to speed it up with the Halfa lessons in case something happens soon, right?"  
  
Danny nodded, "Yeah, after school good for you Sam?"  
  
"That's fine. I was actually practicing some last night."  
  
"What were you practicing? It wasn't anything dangerous, was it?" Danny asked getting worried. Sam didn't have complete control over her powers yet, not that he did himself, but anything could go wrong.  
  
"Just going invisible. I got it to work a couple times, but I think I still need somemore work on it."  
  
"Sure, we can work on that today too." Danny felt a huge weight lifted off of him. Turning invisible was fairly simple, and he doubted that anything horrible could happen if Sam practiced that on her own. He would feel so responsible if anything happened to her when he couldn't protect her.  
  
"You look really tired Danny. Didn't you sleep much last night?" Tucker asked.  
  
"Yeah, I was up late though working on my English paper and then I talked with Jazz for a bit. No, but I slept great."  
  
Sam just smiled at him. It was at this moment that the teacher came in and started class. 


	6. Disappearing Act

-- Authors Note -- In honor of the new episode of Danny Phantom, I present to you, a new chapter! Yey! ::waves two small flags, one says I love Danny! and the other says I love Sam!:: Did anyone else notice on the nick.com e-collectables of Danny Phantom that Jazzs card said that she knew about Dannys ghostly secret? I thought it was a misprint or something. It was totally a great episode though! Now, Id like to thank Lonestarr for giving me the author and title of the work I got the idea for the last chapter from. The story was Phantom Lover by Cherry-Wolf, which is another great story. All right, on with the chapter!  
  
**Chapter 6 Disappearing Act**  
  
Sam couldn't focus on any of her classes that morning. She was too busy thinking about what had happened last night. It took her until nearly midnight to finally be able to turn herself invisible. It had been well worth it though in her mind.  
  
She snuck out of her house and headed back over to Danny's. Once there she transformed and went invisible before climbing up to Danny's window and sneaking in.  
  
Originally she was only going to look around his room, but when she watched him climb into bed she couldn't help herself, she climbed in with him. When he whispered her name she thought for sure that he knew it was her, but he fell asleep right after that.  
  
She stayed with him like that for a few hours, drifting somewhere between sleep and consciousness. Around five in the morning she got up and proceeded to look around his room. There wasn't anything really interesting, at least until she started digging through his trash. She found a piece of paper that looked like Danny had started working on his homework, only given up half way through only to fill the rest of the page with 'Sam.' She just couldn't help herself. Taking a pencil from his desk she added 'and Danny' along with a heart.  
  
At this time it was nearly six and Danny had begun to stir. Sam dropped the paper on the floor and snuck out of his window before heading home.  
  
By lunch she could barely keep her eyes open. She still wasn't really sure if Danny felt the same way about her. Yeah, he had whispered her name, and written it all over his paper. But he was worried about her, wasn't he? It could just be that, part of her told her. Another part begged to differ, but either way none of what she found was the kind of real proof that she was looking for. Boys could really be no fun; didn't they keep journals or anything like that? If Danny did he hid it very well, Sam couldn't find anything anywhere.  
  
All Sam remembered from lunch was taking out her lunch and then Danny poking her awake. She had fallen asleep on his shoulder and the bell signaling the end of lunch had rung.  
  
"You all right Sam?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine Danny."  
  
"Are you sure? You seem really tried. We're not working too hard on your lessons, are we? How late were you up lasting night practicing?"  
  
"I'm sure. No, we're not working too hard. And I was only up until midnight or so. It's no big deal. Really."  
  
"We don't have to have lessons today if you'd rather go home and sleep."  
  
Go home and sleep? And miss out on hanging out with Danny? "No way! I'm really looking forward to it." Sam then lowered her voice to a whisper, "What are we going to work on today?"  
  
"Well, turning invisible to be sure that you have that down. And I was thinking flying."  
  
"Cool, I can't wait," Sam said smiling. Maybe she could swing it so Danny ended up having to catch her.  
  
She dowsed through her afternoon classes so that she would be at least somewhat rested for the Halfa lessons. Tucker had to go out with his mom so he had to go home right away. Sam and Danny didn't talk much on the walk to his house. She wasn't becoming a burden to him, was she?  
  
"Are your parents and Jazz going to be around?"  
  
"No. Mom and Dad went out of town this morning to go to come ghost hunting conference or something like that. And Jazz is still trying to tutor Dash, so she'll probably be gone until late."  
  
Sam almost blushed. She couldn't believe that she was going to be alone with Danny again! All the better, she thought, no distractions if I can get Danny to focus on something other than lessons.  
  
"Let's go downstairs to the lab, there's more room down there than in my room," Danny said as they entered his house. Sam followed him down the stairs to the lab that had changed the both of them into what they now were. As they climbed down the steps she couldn't help herself from checking out his butt. Oh soo cute!  
  
For the rest of the week Danny and Sam went to the lab to practice Halfa lessons, Jazz tutored Dash (with no improvement), and Tucker had started hanging out with some girl from school. Sam was pleased with this fact because if Tucker had someone to keep his attention then he would be less annoyed if something did happen between her and Danny.  
  
The two ghost-children worked on changing themselves invisible, fazing through objects, plasma blasts, flying, shields, and controlling another person (that one they practiced with Tucker). Sam was able to use each lesson to her full advantage, not only in learning to control her powers, but also to get closer to Danny.  
  
While going invisible, she ran into Danny in such a way that one might think it was a hug. Fazing had brought her rushing through a pile of boxes only to fall on top of Danny. A plasma blast threw her back into Danny's arms. Flying, of course, had Sam falling into Danny's arms, or on top of him.  
  
Danny and Sam had just laughed it off, but always in a slightly stressed way. By Saturday the only things that Sam had mastered with at least a 95% chance of getting it to work well were flying, invisibility, fazing, and shields.  
  
"So you can dodge and run away," Tucker joked to her on their way to the park Saturday morning.  
  
"See if I ever tell you anything again!" Sam yelled getting mad at Tucker. He really wasn't helping her feel any better.  
  
"Just calm down Sam. It's all right. We'll take a break and start again on Monday," Danny said putting a hand on her shoulder. She smiled at him, wondering how long they could be lucky with no real ghost threats getting in the way of their lessons.  
  
"You wanna play some Frisbee with us Sam?" Danny asked.  
  
"Nah, I'll just hang out here for a bit. I wanna try and finish a paper I'm working on."  
  
"Okay, if you're sure."  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine here. Don't worry so much."  
  
"I'll try not too. Oh, would you watch this for me?" he asked holding out a notebook.  
  
"Why did you bring a notebook to the park?"  
  
Danny shrugged, "Might look like I'm planning on working on homework?"  
  
Sam just laughed and took it from him. "Okay. Now, stay where I can see you two," she joked sounding like an over-protective parent.  
  
"Yes, mother," Danny, laughed at her before running over to Tucker.  
  
The boys stayed within eyesight and goofed off while Sam wrote in her journal under a large oak tree. She kept everything important in there. More and more lately Danny had been taking up more and more pages.  
  
Looking up to see what her two best friends were doing she noticed a small piece of paper that had fallen out of Danny's notebook. She picked it up and went to stick it inside his notebook, but stopped when she noticed what it said.  
  
'Sam and Danny' was printed on the paper in their two different handwritings with a heart inclosing it.  
  
Sam went bright red. He saved it! Why did he save it? Was this her proof? Did he really like her the same way she liked him? What should she do?!  
  
"Sam watch this!" Tucker called, but Sam didn't look up from the paper.  
  
"Sam? Are you okay?" Danny asked coming over to see what had her attention.  
  
She looked up from the paper into Danny's blue eyes and blushed a deeper red.  
  
"What are you looking at?" When his eyes met with the backside of the paper he blushed a similar shade of red. "Uhh.. Sam, it's not what it looks like. See I was working on this paper, and Jazz found it in the trash, and—and—"Danny began to rumble on some kind of excuse.  
  
Sam stood up, still looking longingly into his eyes. "Tell me the truth Danny. Please, just tell me the truth," she said handing the paper back to him.  
  
"I was writing a paper, and got distracted. Jazz must have found it, and was playing a joke on me. I was going to show it too you, I thought you might find it funny..." he tried explaining.  
  
"No Danny. I know the truth about the paper. I want to know the truth about us. How do you really feel about me?"  
  
"SAM!!" Danny screamed.  
  
Out of nowhere a small peg-legged ghost wearing an eye patch and piratey looking clothes and hat had come and grabbed Sam.  
  
"Such a pretty lass. She'll be a prefect addition to me crew of the damned."  
  
With that Sam and the short ghost vanished into thin air. 


	7. Yo Ho, a Pirate’s Life for Me

-- Author's Note -- Thank you for all your wonderful reviews! I don't really have much to tell you right now. An old friend will stop by again in this chapter. You'll have to tell me if he's scarier this way, lol. All right, let's just get on to what you've all been waiting for!  
  
**Chapter 7 Yo Ho, a Pirate's Life for Me**  
  
"Sam!" Danny screamed again before shouting, "I'm going ghost!"  
  
"Danny stop!" Tucker yelled running over, having just seen what had happened.  
  
"I have to save her Tucker. This is all my fault!"  
  
"We'll save her Danny, but we don't even know where to start looking. Let's go back to my house and see what we can find on that site. It might know where his ship takes birth."_ (A/N: this means where the ship stays when it's not out sailing)_  
  
Danny nodded, and then kneeled down to pick up his notebook and Sam's things. He still felt like it was his fault. After all, he was the freak who got himself changed into some kind of ghost hybrid and put his friends into danger. Now he had gotten Sam changed too and her kidnapped by some creepy ghost.  
  
Tucker led Danny back to his house where they searched the net for almost an hour looking for information. Most of what they found was complete junk: pictures, fanfics, dating services. It seemed like people would put anything into their site description to get hits.  
  
While Tucker sat at his computer, Danny sat on the bed with his face buried in his hands. I almost told her. It might not have been very romantic, or anything like that, but at least she would have known. Now she probably thinks that I hate her or something like that. I doubt she'll ever want to be my girlfriend now.  
  
After about a hundred pages, Tucker finally found something. "Hey Danny, look. There's a news report here on the newspaper's website. Something strange seems to be going on down at the pier. You don't think it could be Rurik and his ship?" _(A/N: I don't actually know if Danny's hometown has a pier, or if it's on the ocean, but for all matters of the story, it does. Don't argue with me. =P)_  
  
"It's all we have for right now, Tuck. We have to do something. I can't sit around anymore!"  
  
"Agreed, but first, let's go back to your house and get the thermos. And your parents might have something else that might be useful."  
-------------------------  
Meanwhile, Sam was just coming too abroad Rurik's ship. "Wha-what happened? Danny?"  
  
Rurik gave a mad laugh and walked over to the holding cell that Sam was laying on the floor of. His peg leg clunked with every step and Sam knew that what had happened was not a dream.  
  
"Good evening, lass. A pleasure to see that yer awake."  
  
"Where am I? Where's Danny?"  
  
"Ah, yes. Danny Phantom, that stupid little Halfa hybrid. He's not here. Appears that he doesn't really care about his friends. But now, ye lass, are aboard the most feared ship that sails the seven seas, the Black Emerald."  
  
"The Black Emerald? That's kind of a stupid name, don't you think?"  
  
"Shut up, lass, or ye'll be sleeping with me crew. Besides, the Black Pearl was already taken. Now. What be yer name?"  
  
Sam got to her feet, unsure of what to tell him. She couldn't tell him her real name; if she ever got away he might come after her again. What would Danny do, she wondered. That's when it hit her.  
  
She reached a hand to the ceiling and looked into Rurik's black eyes. "I," Sam started before the flash of light surrounded her as she transformed into her ghost half, "am Sam Spectre."  
  
The short pirate gave a small laugh. "I see that we have another Halfa on our hands. How nice of that stupid Enialis to give us such a wonderful gift. Don't think that this will save you from yer fate though, lass. It only makes things easier on us. After all, now we don't have to kill ye."  
  
I have to get out of here, Sam thought. I'm not ready to face something like this. Maybe I can faze myself through the bars and off of this ship. It was worth a try being as it was the only idea that Sam could come up with. Taking a deep breath she willed herself to be able to move through objects. This is simple, she told herself. I've done this a hundred times with Danny. We're downstairs in his basement, and if I run through these bars then I can slam right into him again.  
  
Releasing her breath Sam ran straight at the bars. I'm going to make it. I can do this, she thought. Until she slammed right into the bars. "Why didn't it work?!"  
  
This only made Rurik laugh harder. "Lass, don't be hurting yer pretty little head. This is a ghost ship, remember? None of your little Halfa tricks will be able to get ye out of here. And don't think that ye'll be able to escape as a human. We're well prepared for that too. Just sit down, and I'll send one of me crewmen down with yer change of clothes."  
------------------------------  
Danny and Tucker burst into Danny's house and ran downstairs to the lab. Jazz was sitting at the kitchen table, writing something in one of her notebooks for a new thesis she had thought up that morning. Once the boys had dashed past she looked up and towards the basement where the two of them had gone.  
  
"Danny. What are you doing?" she asked sounding slightly like a parent would.  
  
"Nothing Jazz!" Danny called up the stairs at her. Tucker pulled the thermos out from the storage cabinet and threw it in his backpack.  
  
The two of them looked through the contents of the cabinet, but nothing they found looked helpful, or safe, so they forgot about getting anything else.  
  
When they reached the top stair Jazz was looking at them with a questioning gaze. "What are you doing?" she repeated. "And where's Sam?"  
  
"Sam's waiting for us. We had to grab something that I forgot that I had lent to Dad."  
  
"All right, so where are you going now?"  
  
"The pier," Tucker offered. Danny nodded, thinking how that wasn't a lie.  
  
Jazz gave the two of them a small smile. "Are you all playing some ghost hunting game?"  
  
"Yes, yes we are Jazz. You caught us. Just don't tell Mom and Dad that we're using their stuff, okay?"  
  
"Sure, just don't hurt yourself. You know some of that stuff they make isn't safe."  
  
"We know!" Danny shouted as they took off out the door.  
-------------------------  
Sam kicked some of the dust around that was on the floor. Gross, she thought.  
  
"I am the Box Ghost, yarr!" the Box Ghost said entering the room where Sam's cell was.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Sam asked looking at his pirate garb.  
  
"I'm part of Rurik's crew. So now I'm a pirate! Yarr!" he said in his fake pirate-y voice. Sam almost broke down laughing. "I brought you your new clothes." He handed her a stack of clothing that she took. "You are to change into those."  
  
"Isn't it yer? Not 'you are'?"  
  
"Dang, I always forget that part! Yarr!"  
  
Sam looked down at the clothes then back at the Box Ghost who was just standing there. "Do you mind?" she shouted at him.  
  
"Sorry, sorry," he said before exiting the room.  
  
Sheesh, Sam thought, I'm not changing in front of some stupid ghost. There's no way a ghost is going to see me naked. I wouldn't even let Danny see me naked. Then something hit her. Maybe he had seen her changing! He could have gone invisible and fazed into her room and watched her. Sam got slightly angry at the thought. She didn't know if anything like that had happened, but if it had it meant that he did like her, even if it was just looking at her.  
  
That was something, right? But also because she had almost done the same thing to him. Of course he was only half naked, she told herself. And it wasn't like she hadn't seen him the same way the next day when she went to pick him up for school. So all things considered, she could only be a little made at him.  
  
A knock came from the door and the Box Ghost asked if she was finished changing. She told him yes. Of course she also thought that she looked really stupid in pirate garb. It was way to baggy. Oh well, hopefully she'll get out of her soon.  
  
The Box Ghost entered and then opened the cell door. "Captain Rurik ordered that you be released from your cell, however," he said clicking something around her neck. "You have to wear this."  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Some sort of collar. It will kill you if you try to escape."  
  
Or maybe Danny will save me, Sam thought.  
-------------------------  
Danny and Tucker stood at the pier bent over trying to catch their breath. Sure enough, off in the distance they could see the pirate ship. Don't worry, Sam, Danny thought. I'm coming. 


	8. Help Me!

Author's Note: Sorry to everyone for updating so late! Work was murder, especially when I haven't had a day off since last Tuesday. It was also hard because I kept getting all these great ideas for new stories if I decide to continue with the idea of Sam being a Halfa. So I put it out to you all, should I make a series of 'For the Love of the Halfa'? If so, I would love to hear some of your ideas for stories. Now, in this chapter I poke fun at all those PoTC fanfic fans, but this is all in good fun because I am one of those people. So please no yelling at me for that! Also, a note of the collar. I got a review saying that it reminded them of the hall pass from Invader Zim. When I wrote that I honestly wasn't thinking about that, but yes, it is just like that! Thank you again for all of your reviews! Maybe if I get to a hundred I will post another drawing for you all. Anyway, enjoy the next chapter and keep on reviewing!  
  
-- Author Note -- (July 4) Hey again. As of right now I have 99 reviews. I cannot thank you guys enough for the reviews. I can't believe how well this story is going! As promised, I have drawn a new Danny Phantom picture. I can tell you all right now, that you will –love- this one. I still have to ink it and color it, and then scan it into the computer. But all that's easy, so it should be done by the time the next chapter is posted. Of course this only matters if I get one more review. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, and everyone who read this fanfic. I love you guys!!!  
  
**Chapter 8 Help Me!**  
  
The Box Ghost led Sam up on deck. She had to shield her eyes from the sudden burst of light. The sun was just beginning to set, but it was still fairly bright.  
  
"Stay here, yarr. While I go and get your orders. Yarr!" the Box Ghost said before walking off to the Captain's quarters.  
  
Sam looked around the ship. It kinda reminded her of that one pirate movie that had come out last year with those two hot actors that everyone at school was talking about. She noticed that they were a few miles away from the pier. Thank you, she thought. This will make things easier if I manage to escape from this ship.  
  
Turning back to finish looking around the ship Sam noticed a girl on her hands and knees scrubbing the floors. She only looked a few years older than Sam.  
  
Looking around the deck quickly, Sam noticed that there was something strange about this girl compared to the other members of the crew that were on deck. She looked... alive.  
  
"Hello?" Sam asked walking over to the girl. This caused the red haired girl to jump. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."  
  
This girl just stared at Sam for a moment. "He-hello."  
  
"What's your name?" Sam asked kneeling down next to her.  
  
"My name's Mandy. You must be the new addition," the girl said her eyes falling on the collar around Sam's neck.  
  
"Yeah..." Sam paused, wondering if she should ask Mandy why she seemed to be the only one alive on board.  
  
Before she could make up her mind Mandy answered her question for her. "I was only brought aboard a few days ago. Captain Rurik likes to wait before changing you. I guess he enjoys breaking you in. The collar if just the first step."  
  
"How did you get yours off?"  
  
"Well, I guess the captain decided that I wasn't a threat of trying to escape. After you get so far away from home you start to lose any hope of escaping."  
  
After asking Mandy where she was from, Sam found out that she was from a small city on the coast of California. Where have I heard that city from before, Sam questioned herself, sure that she had heard someone mention that place before. It was a moment before Sam realized that she had heard it on the news, along with the name of this girl. Everyone thought that she was a run away. She decided not to mention this to Mandy, in case it might upset her.  
  
"How did you come aboard? Did that squid go after you too?"  
  
"No, I almost wish he had. I wouldn't have all this guilt to live with then, you know?"  
  
"So what happened?"  
  
Mandy explained to Sam that a couple days ago she had been out for a walk on the beach and saw the ship about two miles out. It looked just like the Black Pearl, so she grabbed a rowboat and heading out to the ship.  
  
"Why would you go after a pirate ship?"  
  
"Because! Ever since the movie came out I haven't been able to stop reading the fanfics where they put you aboard the Black Pearl and you fall in love with Jack Sparrow. I thought that maybe it was coming true. I thought that I would find Jack Sparrow and he would fall in love with me and we would sail the seven seas together."  
  
--------------------------------  
  
"You ready Danny?" Tucker asked.  
  
Danny nodded. "I'm going ghost!" In a flash of light he was transformed into his alter ego, Danny Phantom. He touched off of the ground and grabbed Tucker before flying them off towards the ship.  
  
"Have I ever mentioned to you that I'm afraid of water?" Tucker asked, looking down at the ocean below them.  
  
"No, why?" Danny questioned him.  
  
"Because I think I will be if you drop me!"  
  
Danny laughed, "I'm not going to drop you. Or maybe I will."  
  
"Don't!"  
  
Danny laughed harder and flew down closer to the water.  
  
"This isn't funny Danny!"  
  
"Sure it is," Danny said going low enough for the toes of Tucker's shoes to touch the water.  
  
"I'll get you back for this! Now can we please stop fooling around?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah. All right."  
  
"Umm, Danny. You can go higher anytime now."  
  
"Umm, Tuck?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I can't. Something's grabbed us."  
  
"That's not funny. Stop goofing off and go higher."  
  
"I'm serious Tuck."  
  
Tucker looked over his shoulder to see that Danny was telling the truth. A great tentacle had grabbed onto Danny's legs.  
  
Danny tried pulling harder, but they were completely stuck to the tentacle. He couldn't even faze out of it. Something was seriously wrong.  
  
"Tucker, I can't faze out of it!"  
  
"It must be Enialis!"  
  
As soon as Tucker said it's name the head of the squid rose out of the water.  
  
"Please don't eat us!" Tucker cried while covering his eyes.  
  
Enialis blinked a couple times. "I have no intention of eating you," a voice boomed from the squid.  
  
"Really?" Tucker asked, peeking out from behind his hands.  
  
"Then what do you want with us?" Danny asked.  
  
Enialis raised another tentacle to the surface of the water and set the two boys on it. "I need your help. You are the Halfa, are you not?"  
  
"Well, one of them," Danny said.  
  
"Why do you need our help?" Tucker asked.  
  
"For thousands of years Captain Rurik and his crew have been chasing me. I just want to be left in peace. I need you to try and talk to him and get him to leave me alone."  
  
"Why should we help you? You transformed one of my friends into a Halfa by pulling her into the ghost zone!" Danny said getting slightly annoyed.  
  
"I am sorry about that. I never meant to hurt her, honestly. I was actually hoping to grab you, Danny Phantom."  
  
Great, Danny thought. The squid screws up and Sam's the one that has to pay.  
  
"Will you please help me?"  
  
"I suppose we could try talking to Rurik. I'm not making any promises though, all right?"  
  
"I understand. Thank you so much!" 


	9. Here With Me

Author's Note - Sorry for the delay, again. But hopefully you'll find it worth it. After all, not only do you get a chapter, but a picture as well! And I had to go through a lot to get this drawing done for you all. I think you'll like it better because its hand colored, which is part of why it took so long. But also because I didn't quite have to colors I wanted so it was off to Dick Blick to get the right ones! Then there were scanner issues. Don't worry, I hit it good with a rock and now it's good to go. LoL. Also, there's a little bonus if you're like completely in love with the story. I made desktop wallpaper (that's another hobby of mine) out of the first drawing. You'll have to e-mail me for the wallpaper, though. So, here's the addys.

Halfa Pic  
www. deviantart. com/ deviation/ 13815067/

100 Reviews Bonus Pic  
www. deviantart. com/ deviation/ 14949139/

On another note, as I have said before, there is a strong chance of 'For the Love of a Halfa' becoming a series. This is because I have come up with a couple of ideas for stories after this one is completed. However, I am giving you, the readers of 'For the Love of a Halfa' a chance to get in on the action. If you have an idea for something that should happen to the our Halfa heroes, post it in your review, or e-mail it to me (anime goddess 18 hotmail . com). If I decide to use it for a story your name will be included in the story to give you credit for the idea, as well as the chance to be included as a character in the story(if you wish). But that's not all! You'll also get the new chapters e-mailed to you –before- they are posted, so that you can give your in put on the chapter and anything you think that needs to be changed. Thanks again to everyone who reviewed! Now, on to the chapter!

**Chapter 9 Here With Me**

Sam wiped the sweat off of her forehead and looked around the ship. She had probably been scrubbing the deck for almost an hour. Her knees where killing her and her back ached something terrible.

I have to do something to get my mind off of this, she thought. Most of the crew was below deck, and Mandy was working on the other side of the ship. Even with the two of them working they were barely even half way done.

Frowning to herself Sam remembered what had happened right before Rurik had captured her. Was Danny going to tell her that he loved her, or that they were just friends? At this moment she didn't care either way. Just so long as she could see his face again.

Thinking of Danny brought a song into her head. It had been ages since she had listened to it, but she knew all the words. Of course it wasn't one of those that you would never admit you ever listened to, like the Spice Girls, unless of course you were hanging out with your closest friends and you were singing for a laugh. No, this was a sweet, calming song that filled you with love. Returning to her work Sam let the song fill her up completely and began singing.

"It's been a long, long time since I looked into the mirror. I guess that I was blind. Now my reflection's getting clearer. Now that you're gone things will never be the same again.

"There's not a minute that goes by every hour of every day. You're such a part of me. But I just pulled away. Well, I'm not the same girl you used to know. I wish I said the words I never showed.

"I know you had to go away. I died just a little, and I feel it now. You're the one I need. I believe that I would cry just a little. Just to have you back now. Here with me. Here with me."

As Sam finished the chorus Mandy had begun singing the next verse.

"You know that silence is loud when all you hear is your heart. And I wanted so badly just to be a part of something strong and true. But I was scared and left it all behind.

"I know you had to go away. I died just a little, and I feel it now. You're the one I need. I believe that I would cry just a little. Just to have you back now. Here with me. Here with me."

Now completely getting into the song they both sang the rest together all the while scrubbing the wooden deck of the ship that damned them both.

"And I'm asking. And I'm wanting you to come back to me. Please?

"I never will forget that look upon your face. How you turned away and left without a trace. But I understand that you did what you had to do. And I thank you.

"I know you had to go away. I died just a little, and I feel it now. You're the one I need. I believe that I would cry just a little. Just to have you back now. Here with me. Here with me."

After they had finished the song the girls worked in silence for a few minutes. Finally Mandy broke the silence.

"Why'd you pick that song? I haven't heard it in at least a year."

Sam nodded, "I know. I'm not sure. It was thinking about someone and it just came to me."

It was Mandy's turn to nod now. "Yeah. It reminds me of my boyfriend, Marco. He'd hate the song, but that's probably just because life is just one big joke to him. Who were thinking about?"

"It's complicated."

"We have time, you know."

Sam laughed, "That we do."

"So who's the boy?"

"His name is Danny. We're best friends."

"Except you like him as more than a friend?"

"Yeah. We've been friends forever and this last year I started thinking about him differently. I think I love him, but I love being his friend and I'm afraid if I tell him that he won't want to be friends anymore."

Mandy listened as Sam gushed on about all the times that she had had a hope that Danny had meant something more than friendship, but then threw up a wall, and everything else she could think of. It felt good to finally get everything out to someone other than her journal. She didn't have any girlfriends at Casper High School.

Once Sam had finished Mandy just smiled at her. "You know, two years ago I was in the same spot as you are. For years I was a trio with my two best friends, Marco and Reggie. When we were finishing middle school I started thinking of Marco as more than a friend. I couldn't say anything though because even if Marco did like me as more than a friend where would that leave Reggie?

"The thing that opened my eyes was actually half of the reason I hid my feelings. Reggie told me he was worried about me. I had become closed off from the two of them and he was worried that something had happened to me. I could tell him anything and he didn't want me to keep anything from them. So I just let it all out."

"What happened?" Sam asked completely forgetting what had started the conversation.

"Well, first Reggie laughed at me. Then he told me that he thought that was what had happened."

"So he was okay with it?"

"Of course! He even set us up on a date and everything. He was a sweetheart. Marco told me that he felt the same way, and we ended up going out. I owe it all to Reggie."

"I don't think I could do that. Tucker isn't sweet like that. Danny, maybe. But never Tucker. How could you be indebt to him like that?"

"I'm not indebt to him anymore. I hooked him up with Crescent last year when she started at our school," Mandy laughed.

"So basically I have to find him a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, basically."

-

Danny and Tucker flew silently towards the pirate ship. Once they got close Danny dropped lower in hopes of keeping their presence unknown. Tucker grabbed onto one of the canons that was pointed out over the water. Danny hung on to the one next to him.

"Now what?" Tucker whispered.

"Shhh. I hear something," Danny whispered back, pointing up towards the deck.

"How could you be indebt to him like that?" That sounded like Sam, but whom was she talking too?

"I'm not indebt to him anymore. I hooked him up with Crescent last year when she started at our school," another girl said.

"So basically I have to find him a girlfriend?"

"Yeah, basically."

What were they talking about, Danny wondered. And whom did Sam have to find a girlfriend for? It couldn't be him, could it? Maybe that was it! She didn't like Danny as more than a friend and she knew that he liked her, so she was going to find a girlfriend for him so he would forget about her! No! He couldn't let that happen. He loved Sam, and no one could take her place, Danny decided. If she didn't like him back then he would live with that. He could wait until he fell out of love with Sam and then find someone else, couldn't he?

Before Danny could finish pondering Tucker poked him. "What?" he hissed at his meat-loving friend.

"Let's go," he whispered back.

Danny nodded to Tucker, who began climbing up to the side of the ship of the deck. Danny followed suit.

"Tucker! Danny!" Sam gasped as her two best friends climbed onto the deck.

"Shhh!" the two boys hissed together.

Sam covered her mouth and looked at them wide eyed. The other girl that had been talking with Sam moments ago gave them a similar look before her eyes darted around the deck.

"It's clear," she whispered then got up and walked over to them.

"Hi," Tucker said giving the red haired girl a small wave. She just smiled at them.

Sam jumped up to her feet. "What are you two doing here?"

"Saving you. What do you think we're doing?"

"If Rurik finds you he'll kill the both of you," the other girl said.

"I know that, and I don't care. I couldn't let some stupid ghost capture you and not do anything Sam."

"Who's your friend?" Tucker asked.

"Oh right. This is Mandy. Mandy, this is Tucker and Danny," Sam said pointing to each boy in turn.

Mandy smiled at Danny. "You never said that he was cute."

Danny could feel his face turn a slight shade of red.

Sam quickly told them about Mandy, leaving out the part about her actually going after the ship and why.

"We'll get you out of here too," Danny told her. "And we'll find a way to get you home."

"Really?"

"Of course," Tucker said now.

"Thank you both! There's just one thing though," Mandy said.

"What?" Tucker asked.

Mandy pointed at the collar around Sam's neck. "That. If she tries to leave the ship, she'll be killed."

"What if she's in ghost form?"

"Excuse me?" Mandy asked now.

Danny and Tucker explained to her that Danny and Sam were ghost hybrids and could change between human and ghost form.

"Oh right, the Halfa thing," she said nodding. "Rurik was talking about that the other day. But that's no good either. The majority of the crew are ghosts, and were ghosts when they came aboard. Your fate will just be slightly worse if you're a ghost."

Now it was the trio's turn to be confused.

"If you're human and you try to escape, then you are killed. Simple as that. There is always a chance of becoming a ghost. However, if you're a ghost and you try to escape, well, then you're just no more."

"That doesn't sound good. Okay, so running is out for now. How did you get your collar off? You've only been on board for a few days."

"Like I told Sam earlier, after you get so far away from your home Rurik decides that you are no longer a threat of escaping. You just kind of give up hope because even if you can escape, what are you going to do? I mean come on, I'm clear on the other side of the country."

"We'll just have to find a way to get Rurik to think that there's no danger of Sam running away."

The four teenagers debated and plotted, trying to come up with something that had a slight chance of working. Half an hour later they had come up with the prefect plan. It was complete flawless, so long as Rurik didn't see through it.


	10. Phase One

-- Author's Note -- Greetings! I present to you the next chapter of 'For the Love of a Halfa!' It's actually kind of strange, this story is turning out to be much longer than I thought it would be. Of course that happens with all my fanfics that I write. I think it's because I have so much fun writing them! Of course I don't think I've ever had this much fun. I always look forward to reading your reviews and seeing what everyone thinks. Anyway, that's enough of me babbling on. Let's get to the chapter!!  
  
**Chapter 10 Phase One**  
  
I don't know if this will work, Sam thought to herself. "Something's going to go wrong," she had told the others.  
  
"Nothing will go wrong if you stay in character."  
  
"And if he tries to kill you? What am I suppose to do then, Danny?"  
  
"Let him," was his only answer. Why did he have to be such a hero sometimes?  
  
Sam took a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves. Stay in character, focus, focus, she repeated to herself. No matter what Danny says I will not let Rurik kill him. I would rather spend the rest of our days aboard this god-forsaken ship then let him die.  
  
She had returned to her ghost form, hoping it would give her strength. Mandy had seemed slightly uneasy when Sam had gone ghost, and also when Danny had transformed back into his human self. Hopefully she could live with the weirdness until they got off the ship. If she screwed up, or Sam herself did, there would be no chance of escape.  
  
Knocking on the door that Sam had seen the Box Ghost come out of when he turned with her orders to scrub the deck, her mind silently freaked out coming up with all sorts of ideas as to how things would go wrong.  
  
There's no way we're going to mess up, Sam told herself firmly as Rurik called for her to enter, which she did so in silence. Mandy had told her that she should never speak to him unless spoken to and told to do so.  
  
"Sam Spectre," he said eyeing her questionably. "To what do I owe the honor?"  
  
"I have come to swear my loyalty to the Black Emerald and it's crew," she said taking that as an invention to speak.  
  
His eyes widen slightly in surprise, giving away his true emotions despite him saying "Is that suppose to mean something to me, child?" in a calm voice.  
  
"Words mean nothing anymore, Captain. Please allow me to _show_ you my undying loyalty."  
  
Rurik nodded his head slightly and Sam turned and opened the door. "Please bring him in."  
  
Mandy appeared in the doorway holding Danny's arms tied behind his back. "The prisoner," she said quietly.  
  
"Thank you," Sam told her before roughly taking Danny into her custody. Mandy left then shutting the door behind her.  
  
"This," she said pushing Danny harshly forward, "This decided he would thoughtlessly come aboard your ship, Captain."  
  
"For what reason?" he asked Sam.  
  
She gave Danny a demeaning sneer, "To 'rescue' me."  
  
"I see. What are your feelings on this, Spectre?"  
  
"I do not wish to be rescued, Captain. My home is aboard the Black Emerald, my heart and loyalty lies to its crew. Not to my friends or family."  
  
This seemed to please Rurik greatly. His eyes shined brighter. "Understood. Please take him below deck to the holding cell and then return. I have a matter I would like to discuss with you, Sam Spectra."  
  
Sam nodded and roughly pushed Danny out of Rurik's cabin then down below deck. As soon as the two of them were below deck and out of hearing, Danny slipped his hands out of the ropes.  
  
"Those things hurt!"  
  
"Sorry, I guess Mandy tied them a little tight."  
  
"Don't worry about it. You're doing great, and if things are going according to plan Rurik wants to remove your collar."  
  
"I can't wait," she said giving it a small pull.  
  
"Oh, Sam," Danny said as Sam shut him into the cell.  
  
"What Danny?"  
  
Did he want to tell her that he loved her? Could it even be possible? He did come after her, didn't he? Surely that meant something, right? No, Danny was a hero. He would have done the same thing for anyone else, wouldn't he?  
  
"What was Rurik calling you?"  
  
"Sam Spectre."  
  
Danny gave her a questioning look. "He asked for my name. I couldn't tell him the truth; he might be able to find me then. So I asked myself what would Danny do?" she explained to him smiling slightly.  
  
"What would I do?"  
  
Sam nodded, "Yes. What would Danny Phantom do?"  
  
It was Danny's turn to smile, realizing what she was getting at. "Good luck Sam Spectre."  
  
"And good luck to you, Danny Phantom," she said leaving him in the cell.  
  
Turning away and leaving Danny alone in that cell only made Sam think of her time there only hours before. She tried not to think about though. Tucker and Mandy would be letting him out in a few moments. Right now, she needed to get back into character.  
  
She nodded to Mandy as she walked past her, who was lending onto a barrel, which Tucker was most likely hiding inside. After giving Mandy the signal she knocked on the door to Rurik's cabin.  
  
"Enter," he called to her. With her face set in a neutral gaze she entered.  
  
"Captain," she said bowing her head just a bit.  
  
"You surprise me young one."  
  
"Sir?"  
  
"How easily you turn against those you care about. He was your best friend, true?"  
  
"He was sir. But I had nothing back there, no life, nothing. I couldn't even tell the world that I was a ghost. Being here has opened my eyes. I have seen my true calling."  
  
Rurik smiled now, for a moment giving Sam the impression that he had seen through them. She knew this was a bad idea! But no matter what she had to stick to the plan.  
  
"Good. Very good. Maybe that other human girl will learn a thing or two about loyalty from you," he said sneering as he said the word 'human' as if it were a swear word.  
  
Sam nodded, "I will try, Captain, if that is what you ask of me."  
  
"Yes, yes, in time. For now, let me remove that collar. I feel that we no longer need it."  
  
Sam only nodded again, "As my Captain wishes." Inside she was screaming with joy. She had done it! He fell for it! By nightfall they would be out of here and off this stupid boat.  
  
Rurik took a remote from out of his coat and clicked a small button. The collar around her neck snapped open and fell to the ground. Sam bent down and picked it up obediently before holding it out to Rurik with a bow. 


	11. Phase Two

-- Author's Note -- WooHoo! Two updates in one week! Aren't you guys proud of me? I haven't done this since I started the story! Well, it's all thanks to your reviews. ::tears up:: You all give me strength! Anyway, there were some things I'd like to comment on from the reviews. First, Augusta, no Tucker will not be becoming a Halfa. They already tried that on the show, so that's been done! And the idea kinda bores me, no offense to those who would like Tucker to become part ghost too. If you do, go write your own fic! ::sticks tongue out at them::  
  
**Danny:** Oh, like that's mature.  
  
**MoonHawke:** What can I say, I'm a kid at heart. ::smiles sweetly::  
  
**Sam:** Stop fighting you two, there are panda bears dying in China, and you're fighting over maturity levels.  
  
**MoonHawke:** Sorry Sam! Okay, now who else was there... ::flips through a stack of papers::  
  
**Danny: ** Any day now, I'd like to start the chapter.  
  
**MoonHawke:** Oh yes. ::pulls out a piece of paper:: _Daemonwolf._ No, that is not all, but I do not take well to threats. I suggest you remember that if you'd like me to finish this fic. ::shrugs:: Who knows, I may just forget to update and I may get really, _-really-_ busy with other things. We wouldn't want that, now would we? Good!  
  
**Danny:** Please tell me you're done now.  
  
**MoonHawke:** Almost! Promise, I would like to personally thank each and everyone of you who reviewed, but I don't have time/space for that! So, for my last one, Exeter, thank you for your criticism! I tried to take that into account during this chapter, and I hope you think that it has improved. I have some other comments, but I will try and e-mail them to you if you don't mind. Okay, now I got a few reviews that were asking about how stupid Rurik is/was/whatever and about no one hearing Sam and Danny talking below deck. All I have to say in response to that is, how do you know? Who says Rurik is really that dumb? And who says that no one heard them? Well, I'm not saying! LoL. I promise your questions will be answered in this chapter! Well, all but if Danny and Sam are going to tell each other that they like each other! Nope! I like keeping you in suspense, besides, where's the fun if they tell each other now?  
  
**Sam:** You done now, right?  
  
**MoonHawke:** Yep, yep! Quite done! On with the chapter! And keep reviewing!  
  
**Danny:** You know what they call author's like you, don't they?  
  
**MoonHawke:** No, what?  
  
**Danny:** It's two words, the first one is review, and the second one rhymes with boar. If you don't get it, go ask your mommy.  
  
**Chapter 11 Phase Two**  
  
Danny sat silently inside the cell. In a few minutes, after Sam had given Mandy and Tucker the signal, they would sneak below deck and release him. Even knowing this he was creped out by the fact that he was locked up aboard a pirate ship. The feelings was made worse by knowing that if Mandy and Tucker couldn't unlock the door, he wouldn't be able to get out.  
  
"Ow!"  
  
"Shhh! Do you want the crew to hear us?" Mandy whispered at Tucker.  
  
He must have stubbed his toe or something, Danny thought looking towards where the voices had come from. Mandy and Tucker popped out from behind a barrel and smiled at him.  
  
"Sam's in?" Danny asked in a whisper.  
  
"Yeah, she's doing great. I hope that Rurik's taking the collar off her now," Mandy explained.  
  
"I just don't see how stupid a ghost can be," Tucker said.  
  
"Sometimes, when someone's in power they'll see what they want to see in a situation," Mandy told him.  
  
"Enough you guys. We can debate this later. Get me out of here, now," Danny said, his patience getting testy.  
  
"Right, right. Did you grab the keys?" Tucker asked Mandy.  
  
"Noooo. That was your job Tucker, remember? While I was taking Danny in to Sam and Rurik, you were to get the key to the cell."  
  
"I thought that was your job!" Tucker said, his voice getting weak.  
  
"Stop, stop, just stop," Danny said trying to get control of the situation. "You guys are going to have to go and get the key now. Mandy tie up Tucker and take him with you. If anyone asks you why you're taking the key tell them so you can lock Tuck up. All right?"  
  
Mandy nodded, but Tucker looked annoyed. "Tie me up? What is this anyway?"  
  
"Tucker, you knew this wouldn't be easy when you started. Just do it or we'll never get out of here. Who knows where we'll end up next, it could be Asia for all we know."  
  
The color drained from Tucker's face and he nodded in agreement. He let Mandy bind him and she pushed him back the way they had come.  
  
Once they had left Danny sighed. Sometimes he wondered if Tucker was all there. It was times like this he strongly thought not. Looking around the belly of the ship, Danny wondered how many people had fallen into Rurik's hands. This had to end, and end now.  
  
After a few minutes Mandy and Tucker came rushing back to the cell.  
  
"What happened?" Danny asked.  
  
"The-the key," Tucker gasped.  
  
"What about it? Did you get it?"  
  
Mandy shook her head as she was bent over gasping for air. They must have run the whole way back.  
  
"The what is it?"  
  
"It's gone," Mandy finally managed to spit out.  
  
"Gone? How could it be gone?"  
  
"You are not the only ones trying to break away from the curse of the Black Emerald," a familiar voice said.  
  
"Wh-who's there?" Danny asked, his eyes darting around.  
  
"It's your greatest enemy, Danny Phantom," the voice said.  
  
"Vlad?"  
  
"Vlad? No, it is the Box Ghost!" he boomed as he popped out from behind some barrels.  
  
"The Box Ghost?" Tucker asked eyeing him.  
  
"What do you want?" Danny asked him now.  
  
"I was captured by Rurik as well. Please Danny Phantom, if I give you the key will you help me escape as well?"  
  
"Why is everyone asking for our help?" Tucker asked sounding quite annoyed at this turn of events.  
  
"Fine," Danny sighed. "Just stay out of the way."  
  
"You trust him?" Mandy hissed. "But he's a ghost."  
  
"Yeah, but I'm part ghost, and so is Sam. You trust us but not him?"  
  
"That's different!"  
  
"Maybe, but don't worry. We've faced him before, and it's no big," Danny explained.  
  
"Yeah, and he's completely hopeless," Tucker whispered to Mandy with a small laugh.  
  
The Box Ghost handed over the key and the three of them gave him orders. He was to keep Rurik busy while they took out the ship.  
  
After the Box Ghost had gone off to find a distraction, Mandy tied up Tucker and Danny again.  
  
"Why do we have to do this again?" Tucker whined.  
  
"Because you're suppose to prisoners, remember?"  
  
"What?!? No! Danny's the prisoner, no one knows that I'm here!"  
  
"They will if you keep yelling like that," Danny told him. This quieted Tucker down. With that Mandy finished tying the boys' hands and pushed them back up onto deck.  
  
"This is so stupid," Tucker muttered under his breath.  
  
Mandy smacked Tucker upside the head. "Hey!" he started but Mandy hit him again.  
  
"You'll be quiet prisoner!" she yelled at him. Danny glared at Tucker and Tucker shut up. This boy was no good at acting what so ever.  
  
As Mandy was leading them over to the empty barrels they were going to hide in until Sam got away from Rurik, Sam burst out from Rurik's cabin.  
  
"Danny!" she screamed, falling to the floor.  
  
"I'm going ghost!" Danny shouted as he went to transform. But something was wrong. He couldn't transform!  
  
"Any time now Danny," Tucker urged him. Sam was trying to crawl over to them, but one of her arms seemed to be hurt.  
  
"I can't transform!"  
  
"Muwhahaha." Rurik stood in the doorway of his cabin. "Stupid human. Like I wouldn't know the great Danny Phantom when I saw him," he said giving Sam a kick in the leg. She screamed in pain and dropped to the floor.  
  
"Untie me Mandy!" Danny ordered her.  
  
"I don't think so," Rurik said sending a blast of energy at the human girl. Mandy was thrown off her feet and into a pile of barrels.  
  
Danny was panicked now. He couldn't transform, and Sam was hurt. How could he have gotten her into this?! If something happened to her, he could never forgive himself! "Sam!"  
  
Rurik laughed harder. "Like my ropes, Halfa? They were specially made with the souls of the damned, just like this ship. Even if you were to become your ghost self, there's no way that you could break free from those ropes. Don't you remember what your little friend told you about the cell?"  
  
"What?" Danny asked, struggling to free himself from the ropes. Mandy had tied them too tight again.  
  
"I'll explain it to you child. I have managed to find a way to craft the souls of those who commit the worst crimes into objects. Those objects are immune to those ghostly tricks you are so use to."  
  
"How did you manage that?" Tucker asked now.  
  
"It's like the objects in our world, ghost boy. They are solid to ghosts, except I plucked the souls right at the very moment of death, while the soul is still part human as well as part ghost. This was ghosts nor humans can pass through them."  
  
"That's crazy!" Danny shouted.  
  
"I think not, ghost boy. Look around you, there's no escape now. Plasmius will pay handsomely for you," he laughed grabbed hold of Danny.  
  
"Let... let him... go," Sam said trying to force herself up.  
  
"Ah, so you decided for one last go? Well, I doubt Plasmius will pay quite as much for you, but I'm sure he'll be happy to take you as well."  
  
"Let... Danny... go..." Sam was now on her feet, but just barely. She was supporting herself on one of masts and glaring daggers at Rurik.  
  
"What do you think you're going to do to me, ghost girl? You can't even control your power." This caused Rurik to laugh harder.  
  
Maybe he really has won, Danny thought looking from Rurik, to Mandy who was out cold, to Tucker who was now hidden behind the barrels they were to hide in, to Sam who looked like she would fall over at any moment.  
  
Sam raised her free hand up towards Rurik and shouted, "LET HIM GO!" 


	12. Phase Halfas Strike Back

-- Author's Note -- ::crying:: Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! I wrote this chapter with some help from Regrem Erutaerc, so everyone give him a hand for his great ideas. Now, what you've all been waiting for! The conclusion of 'For the Love of a Halfa.'  
  
**Chapter 12 Phase Halfas Strike Back**  
  
Sam had no idea what she was doing. I can barely stand, and I can't control my powers. How am I supposed to do anything?  
  
Looking at Danny, his eyes pleading with her, she knew that she had to do something. I'd give my life to save Danny!  
  
Raising the arm that wasn't holding her up against the mast, Sam gathered everything she had. All her power, emotion, and love. She focused them all and let them explode.  
  
"LET HIM GO!" she screamed as a blast of light shot from her hand at Rurik. As the light engulfed Rurik things began to go dark. Slowly Sam started to slip down the mast towards the floor again.  
  
Pain shot through her leg and she was sure that it was broken. "Let... Danny... go," she mumbled as she collapsed onto the deck. Everything went black.  
  
---------------------  
  
Danny had managed to break out of Rurik's grasp just before the light engulfed him. He flew towards the ground and landed with a thud.  
  
"Oof," Danny groaned as he tried to get to his feet. With his hands bond he could do little more than wiggle around, however.  
  
What had Sam done? That was no mere plasma blast, Danny knew for sure.  
  
"Tucker, are you all right?"  
  
"Yeah, I think so."  
  
"Can you see Mandy?"  
  
"No, I think she's still out cold."  
  
"Great."  
  
"There! I got it Danny!"  
  
"Got what?"  
  
"My hands untied," Tucker said as he leaned over Danny.  
  
"Wonderful. Now untie me."  
  
Tucker nodded and unbound Danny's hands. As Danny rubbed his wrists he looked around the deck. A few crewmembers had started to appear from below deck. They must have heard the fight.  
  
"What did you do?" the Box Ghost asked pushing through to the front. "What about the plan?"  
  
"Plans changed," Danny told him.  
  
"Don't think your little plasma blast will kill me," a voice came from behind where Danny stood. Spinning around Danny saw Rurik's half mangled body struggling to get to his feet.  
  
"Tucker, get Sam!" Danny shouted to his friend then he transformed himself in a flash. "I'm going ghost!"  
  
"You finally show yourself. Don't think that you can defeat me, little hybrid. I have been around for thousands of years, your powers can't hold a candle to the powers I control."  
  
"We'll see about that Rurik." Danny lifted off the deck and sped up towards the clouds. The pirate captain followed him, just like Danny hoped he would.  
  
Glancing down, Danny saw that a fight had broken out among the crewmembers.  
  
"Let's see what you're made up, Halfa," Rurik said as he shot two plasma blasts at Danny.  
  
Danny threw up a shield and blocked one, but missed the second blast, which grazed his leg.  
  
I can't let him defeat me, Danny told himself. He shot a blast back at Rurik, which the ghost easily batted away.  
  
"I'm going to destroy you, just like I did your little friend."  
  
Sam! Danny thought. It was then that Danny started to get angry. Rurik had hurt Sam and there was no way he was going to give in to his tricks.  
  
Focusing his anger Danny shot another plasma blast at Rurik. This one hit, and ripped off more skin.  
  
---------------------  
  
Down on deck Sam was coming too. "Danny? What happened?"  
  
"It's Tucker, Sam. He's fighting Rurik."  
  
Sam quickly sat up. "What?" Her eyes passed over the fighting ghosts but saw Danny and Rurik nowhere.  
  
Mandy motioned above them. Danny and Rurik were engaged in a plasma blast war. As the two fought Danny's blasts seem to get more and more powerful.  
  
"I have to help him!" This is all my fault, Sam thought. I can't let him get hurt because of how stupid I've been.  
  
"But Sam, you can barely stand up," Mandy told her now.  
  
"I know that Mandy, but who said I was going to walk?" Sam asked smiling at her new friend. "I'm going ghost!"  
  
-----  
  
"I'm not giving into you Rurik! I swear I'll kill you for hurting Sam!" Danny yelled at him.  
  
"Danny!"  
  
Danny turned and saw Sam flying up towards him. Rurik took the opportunity to hit Danny in the back with another blast. As Danny began to fall Sam grabbed hold of him with her good arm.  
  
"Sam, what are you doing here?"  
  
"Helping you. We're a team, remember?"  
  
Danny nodded, pulling away from Sam with a slight blush. "Come on, let's finish him off, once and for all."  
  
Sam smiled at him, "Let's do it."  
  
Then together the two Halfa each sent at plasma blast at the pirate. As they neared the ghost the two blasts merged together and formed a red blast that engulfed Rurik for a moment before exploding.  
  
Danny and Sam were thrown back and fell towards the ship.  
  
"Sam!" Danny shouted as he grabbed her and wrapped his arms around her. Then they slammed into the deck breaking a hole into it.  
  
"Where's Rurik?" Tucker asked as he and Mandy pulled them from the hole they had created.  
  
"Are you okay?" Mandy asked.  
  
Sam was even worse for wear then she was before she had gone to help Danny. Both of them sported deep gashes on their arms and legs, and their clothes were nearly in tatters.  
  
Black clouds were spilling from the spot that Rurik had been moments before the Halfa pair had blasted him. Tucker and Mandy pulled Sam and Danny over to safety.  
  
Just as they reached the edge of the deck something came falling from the sky. It crashed into Rurik's cabin.  
  
"You don't think that was..." Mandy whispered.  
  
"I think it was," Danny mumbled.  
  
The four teenagers and all of the crew watched on as the sides of the cabin crumbled in on itself.  
  
"We did it," Sam said in a hushed voice.  
  
"Don't be so sure about that," Rurik's voice boomed from where his cabin had once been.  
  
"No way..." Mandy muttered.  
  
"It can't be..." Danny gulped. 


	13. Once And For All

-- Author's Note -- First off, sorry for the short chapter last time. I swear I've made this one make up for that. Secondly, for those of you that paid attention to the last chapter, okay the Author's Note, actually, thank you for caring about what I have to say! ::cries:: But only 2 out of the 9 reviews that I got for the last chapter mentioned the cruel joke I played on you. For those of you who didn't pay attention, I said that it was the final chapter, which is completely not true. Aren't you glad? No, I was just trying to see how many of you I could freak out. LoL... Not funny? No, I guess not. Anyway, I thank each and everyone of you who reviewed. If you haven't reviewed yet, what are you waiting for? The only other thing that I had to comment on from the reviews that I got was Divagurl277's. Thank you for your kind words, and to answer your question, yes I have. Throughout high school I planned on becoming an author. Of course my senior year something got into my head and I decided that I wanted to be an artist. What can I say, I can never make up my mind. The good news though, is I plan on taking the series that I was writing and turn it into a comic book series, since I've become obessed with manga. (It's my biggest collection!) Anyway, there is more notes after the story. So please read those, and we'll get on to the final chapter of 'For the Love of a Halfa.' The real one, I swear.  
  
**Chapter 13 Once and For All**  
  
Rurik's ghostly laugher filled the air and the gang knew that it was true. Rurik was not dead.  
  
"Stupid children, do you really think that you can defeat me?"  
  
Tucker's eyes grew wide. "What's going on Danny?"  
  
"I don't know Tucker," he whispered.  
  
"Don't get it, do you? Well, I'll explain it to you. Look around, and take a good long look."  
  
The four saw nothing. Most of the crew had fled after Sam and Danny had been pitched into the deck.  
  
"I think he's lost his mind," Tucker muttered.  
  
"Stupid human!" Rurik shouted and the board that Tucker was standing on pitched him over board.  
  
"Tucker!" they screamed.  
  
"I'm going in after him!" Mandy shouted and jumped over.  
  
Sam turned towards Danny, and he saw complete horror in her eyes. "He didn't, did he?"  
  
"I assure you, Spectre, I most certainly did. The Black Emerald and I are now one."  
  
Danny and Sam lifted off the deck and flew towards Tucker and Mandy. The two humans were treading water, trying to stay a float.  
  
"We can't keep this up for long," Tucker informed them.  
  
"Sam, go and find a rowboat. It's their only chance," Danny said trying to take charge.  
  
Sam nodded and took off to search the ship. Who were they trying to kid? This was a ghost ship; ghosts have no need for lifeboats. Just as she was about to give up hope, Sam spotted one. Landing on deck she quickly tried to untie it. The more she fought with the rope though, the tighter it seemed to get.  
  
Growling with anger, Sam fired a plasma blast at the rope causing the lifeboat to drop into the sea. Then as Sam was about to take off the board pitched her head first into the water.  
  
"Danny!" she screamed before the water sucked her under.  
  
Our Halfa hero flew at the speed of lightning and dove beneath the water. He grabbed hold of Sam's arm and pulled up and out of the water. She gasped for air and fought not to scream in pain. Danny was holding her by her injured arm. As soon as she had caught her breath, he released her and Sam floated next to him.  
  
"Come on, let's get the boat over to Mandy and Tucker."  
  
The two grabbed the burned rope that had been holding it onto the ship and pulled. All the while Rurik's laugher grew louder and louder.  
  
Mandy and Tucker climbed into the small boat and began rowing towards the pier. The Halfas turned back to the haunted ship and tried to form a plan of attack.  
  
"BOOM!" a cannon cried out as it blasted a cannon ball at our heroes. Sam and Danny flew in opposite directions trying to avoid the cannon attacks that had started.  
  
"Danny what do we do?"  
  
Dodging cannon ball after cannon ball left him little room in his mind to think. Think, Danny, think, he ordered himself.  
  
"A double plasma burst, Sam. On three!"  
  
The two dodged more cannon balls and focused their energy.  
  
"One!"  
  
Sam barely missed a cannon ball as Rurik sent two flying at her at the same time.  
  
"Two!"  
  
Danny prayed that this would work like it had on Rurik before.  
  
"One!"  
  
The two shot a plasma blast at the ship and again the two blasts joined together and formed a giant red burst. The ship was engulfed in the red light.  
  
"Duck!" Danny shouted as the light exploded.  
  
A few boards flew past them and Sam darted over to Danny. "Did it work?"  
  
"I'm not sure," Danny whispered as they watched the dust clear.  
  
The ship was still mostly intact.  
  
"Danny!" Sam nearly screamed in panic.  
  
"Come on, again."  
  
The pair of them shot blast after blast at the ship. Cannon balls flew at them from all directions. Sam was starting to get light headed and was slowly drifting towards the sea.  
  
"Sam wake up! I think he's getting weaker."  
  
Shaking her head, Sam floated up higher. "I don't know Danny."  
  
Sam was mentally kicking herself. They were going to die, how could they not? We're going to die and I'll never be able to tell Danny how I feel about him!  
  
Her thoughts only caused Sam to get angrier at Rurik for everything that he had done to them. She shot a blast at him and then spun around and shot a second one. The two blasts exploded into the side of the ship, but did little damage.  
  
He has to be getting worn out, Danny told himself. He willed himself to keep on fighting, but he couldn't keep this up much longer.  
  
The pair of them sent another double blast at the ship, but used the last of their energy in doing so. The two slowly began to drift towards the sea.  
  
This is it, Danny thought. We're going to drown. I have to tell her... She has to know.  
  
"Sam... I-"Danny started but was washed out by the exploding ship, the crashing waves, and the pair of them falling into the water.  
  
No! Sam screamed inside her head. She tried to fight her way to get to Danny but she could only float there limply.  
  
Things went darker and darker. This is it, Danny thought. We're dead, it's my fault, and I never told Sam the truth. I deserve to die.  
  
Something firm came up under Danny and pushed him upwards. He felt the water fall away from himself and heard a gasp next to him. Suddenly Danny gasped taking in a breath of air. Air? Is there air in heaven? Wait... if I'm dead I don't need air! Danny bolted upright and felt a pain shot up his back.  
  
Pain had never felt so good. Danny could have cried, but what had saved them? Looking around he saw nothing but Sam lying on her back, fighting to breathe.  
  
"Sam!" he cried out slowly crawling over to her. She was breathing, but just barely. "Don't die Sam! Please don't die!"  
  
"Phantom..." a voice whispered to him. "Sit her upright." Danny nodded and did as the voice instructed.  
  
"Warp your arms around her stomach and squeeze. She's choking on the water."  
  
As Danny pushed the water out of her system everything seemed to fall away. The voice was gone, and the booming of the cannon balls seemed far off in the distance. After a few moments Sam opened her eyes and started gasping greedily for air.  
  
"Sam!"  
  
"Oh my god Danny. I thought I was going to die!"  
  
He smiled at her and brushed a few stray hairs out of her eyes. "Didn't I promise you that I wouldn't let anything happen to you?" This made Sam blush a deep red.  
  
"Good, she's awake."  
  
The two Halfas looked around to see who was speaking but nothing was to be seen except for the Black Emerald. Suddenly something dawned on Danny. Just what were they sitting on?  
  
"Enialis!" Danny shouted.  
  
The squid's head seemed to slowly pop above the water. "Greetings, young Halfa. I see that your plans didn't go as planned."  
  
"We thought we defeated him, but he was too strong for us," Sam whispered looking ashamed.  
  
"Now, now, young one. Something I have learned in my many years is that there will always be those stronger than you."  
  
"So what do you do?" Danny asked now.  
  
"There are two things. You can either out wit them."  
  
"We failed at that," Sam muttered.  
  
"Or, you can hope to befriend someone stronger than them." The pair gave the squid a puzzled looked. "You have fought bravely, and weakened him greatly. I can ask nothing more of you Halfas. I will end this battle once and for all."  
  
With a mighty swing one of Enialis' tentacles rose out of the water and came crashing down on top of the Black Emerald. The pirate ship was shattered into pieces. Planks of wood and barrels flew in all directions.  
  
Rurik's screams echoed for a moment, then faded into nothingness.  
  
Sam and Danny sat in awe of what they had just witnessed.  
  
"Enialis, if you were that strong why didn't you take Rurik out to begin with?" Danny asked in wonderment.  
  
"Just because one picks a fight with you does not give you reason to attack him in return. It is when others are endangered that you may act."  
  
This made Danny blush in embarrassment. It was almost as if Enialis was talking about Danny and Dash, instead of him and Rurik.  
  
Enialis then began to head towards the pier. Neither Sam nor Danny said a word. As they reached the docks Enialis lifted the pair of Halfas up so that they could easily walk onto the empty dock.  
  
"Thank you young ones, you have finally freed me from Rurik. I am indebted to you."  
  
"And thank you, Enialis. We wouldn't have been able to do it without you," Danny told the squid.  
  
"Yes, Enialis. Thank you for everything that you've given us," Sam said with a smile.  
  
Danny took Sam's hand and the two of them waved goodbye to their friend as he slowly headed out to sea.  
  
"Sam! Danny!" Tucker and Mandy called as they ran down the docks towards the hybrids. "You're okay!"  
  
The two Halfas wore identical grins. "Of course we are," Danny said.  
  
"What happened? Did you defeat Rurik? Tell us!" Mandy asked.  
  
Sam opened her mouth to say something but slowly began to fall to her knees as her eyes closed. A small flash changed Sam back into her human form.  
  
"Maybe after we get to the hospital, okay Mandy?" Danny asked as he bent over to help Sam to her feet.  
  
"Wait, just stand still," Mandy told Danny and held her hands up. A soft glow formed in her palms and then floated over towards Danny and Sam. It hovered over their heads for a moment before small sparkles sprinkled over the two of them. Once they had disappeared Sam opened her eyes.  
  
"What happened?" Sam asked, quite confused. Danny and Sam had been instantly healed.  
  
Danny stared wide-eyed at Mandy. "What did you do? Are you part ghost too?"  
  
"Ghost? Pfft. Right," she laughed. "Oh yeah, that's right. I forgot to tell you."  
  
"Tell us what?"  
  
"I'm a Dark Slayer," she said striking a pose.  
  
"You know, at this point in time, I really don't care anymore. You could be a fairy for all I care," Sam said.  
  
The four of them started walking back towards town. As they walked down the streets Mandy started humming a song. Sam grinned at her and the two began singing.  
  
"Open up your eyes, take a look at me, if the picture fits in your memory! I'm driven by the rhythm like the beat of a heart, and I won't stop until I start, to stand out! To stand out.  
  
"Some people settle for the typical thing, living all their lives wading in the waste. It ain't a question of if, just a matter of time, before I move to the front of the line! Unless your watchin' every move that I make, ya gotta believe that I got what it takes.  
  
"To stand out, above the crowd, even if I've gotta shout out loud. So mine is the only face you see. Gonna stand out, 'til you notice me," at this point Sam's eyes locked for a moment with Danny's. But the moment passed in a heartbeat as she turned away and grabbed Mandy's hand pulling her in front of the boys.  
  
"If the stick you wield is always getting the breeze, I'm solely devoted to disturbing the peace. And I'll do it all again, when I get done, until I become your number one. No method sees the madness as a means of escape, gonna break every rule, I'll bend 'em all outta shape. It ain't a question of how, just a matter of when, you get the message that I'm tryin' to sing.  
  
"I'm under a spell, I'm in over my head. And you know I'm going all of the way to the end! To stand out, above the crowd, even if I've got to shout out loud. So mine is the only face you see. Gonna stand out, 'til you notice me, yeah.  
  
"If I can make you stop and take a look at me instead of just walking by. There's nothing that, I wouldn't do, if it was getting you to notice I'm alive." Again Sam and Danny's eyes met for that brief moment. Was she trying to tell him something? he wondered.  
  
"All I need is half a chance, a second thought, a second glance to prove, I got whatever it takes. It's a piece of cake. To stand out, above the crowd. Even if I gotta SHOUT out loud. So mine is the only face you see, gonna, stand out, stand out, yea. Stand out. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Stand out, mmmm. so mine is the only face you see. Gonna STAND OUT, 'til ya notice me!"  
  
Tucker and Danny gave each other a questioning look. The girls just laughed and took off towards Sam's house. Tucker and Danny had no choice but to follow them.  
  
Once inside the teenagers camped out in Sam's room. Sam explained to Mandy about what she had heard on the news, and they all decided that the best way to get Mandy home would be to call the police. The police agreed to pick Mandy up in the morning because it was nearly 9 o'clock at night. They also said that they would connect Mandy's parents and tell them that she was fine.  
  
This left the group the rest of the night to do whatever they felt like.  
  
"How about a video?!" Tucker suggested.  
  
"No!" the rest of them shouted.  
  
"But why not?"  
  
"Because you always pick lame movies, Tucker," Sam told him.  
  
"Well, I think your movies are lame!"  
  
This started a pillow fight between all of them. One of Sam's pillows burst and feathers filled the room. This only caused them to laugh harder.  
  
"I have an idea," Mandy said after they had caught their breath. Her eyes flashed with something evil.  
  
"What?" Danny asked, clearly unaware of the danger that lay ahead of them.  
  
"Truth or Dare," Mandy said calmly. Tucker and Danny had never played before.  
  
"How do you play?" Tucker asked.  
  
"It's really easy," Sam explained. "One person starts, and asks someone 'Truth or Dare.' They then pick either truth or dare. If they pick truth, then the person gets to ask them a question, and they have to answer honestly. If they pick dare, they then get dared to do something, which they have to do."  
  
"Sounds easy," Danny said though he was slightly nervous.  
  
"Okay, I'll start," Mandy said. "Danny, truth or dare?"  
  
"Truth."  
  
"What is your most embarrassing moment?"  
  
After thinking for a moment Danny said, "When Sam caught me with my shirt off the other day."  
  
While they all laughed Mandy gave Sam a look that said 'You didn't tell me that.'  
  
"Okay, your turn Danny."  
  
"Tucker, truth or dare."  
  
"Truth."  
  
"Do you have a crush on the new girl at school?"  
  
Tucker turned bright red and mumbled something.  
  
"We can't hear you," Mandy taunted.  
  
"Yes." More laugher followed.  
  
"Go for it Tucker."  
  
"Sam, truth or dare?"  
  
Sam froze, what should she do? If she picked truth there was the chance that he could ask her if she liked Danny. He couldn't find out this way! No, no, no, Sam told herself. "Dare."  
  
Tucker's eyes flashed over towards Mandy then back at Sam. Something told her this was bad.  
  
"Sam, I dare you and Danny to do Seven Minutes in Heaven."  
  
Mandy's mouth fell open. Something told Sam that they had planned something, but not this extreme. Sam looked over at Danny and he seemed panicked. She couldn't back out now. She nodded and walked over to her walk-in closet.  
  
Danny got up and followed her. As he stood up she thought that she heard him mumble something to Tucker. Mandy shut the door behind them with a giggle.  
  
It took a moment for Sam's eyes to adjust to the darkness.  
  
"I'm sorry Danny. This was a stupid idea. We don't really have to do anything," she said trying to make him at ease.  
  
Danny moved closer to Sam. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he couldn't stop now.  
  
"Sam."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
Danny leaned in closer and kissed her deeply. Sam went bright red and returned the kiss. This was surely a dream!  
  
They broke the kiss after a moment.  
  
"Sam, I love you. I have for a long time and I'm sorry I didn't tell you."  
  
Sam smiled but Danny couldn't see in the darkness. She leaned in closer to him and whispered, "I love you too, Danny."  
  
--------------------  
  
Somewhere far away someone was watching our two heroes, and laughing.  
  
"Oooh, so you've finally come clean little Halfas. Well, don't expect that happiness to last for long," an evil voice said to no one.  
  
A dark hand waved over the image of the ghost hybrids kissing for a second time causing it to vanish.  
  
"No, don't expect it to last for long. Muwhahaha."  
  
-- Author's Note ver. 2 -- Thanks for reading! I hope you liked the ending! Anyway, a few notes on the story.  
  
1. The first time that I had Sam and Mandy singing aboard the Black Emerald, the song was 'Here With Me' by Michelle Branch, from The Spirit Room. It's a good song, go listen to it if you haven't heard it.  
  
2. In this last chapter I had Sam and Mandy singing again. What can I say, I like people singing. That's mainly because I can't sing. LoL. But the song that they sang is probably not one that many of you have heard unless you're into Disney movies. The song was 'Stand Out' from A Goofy Movie. It's a good song, and a good movie, so check those out too.  
  
3. I do not expect anyone to understand Mandy, or her comment at the end. It is mainly an inside joke, but I will explain it in as short a way as I can. Mandy, Marco, Reggie, and Crescent (mentioned in an earlier chapter) are characters from my series that I have written. It was originally called 'The Dark Slayers,' but has since been changed to 'The Zodiac Slayers.' It's your basic magically 'girl' (I use that loosely since many of the characters are guys) story. Think Sailor Moon... only for older teens. What Mandy said about her and Marco getting together was made up on the fly for this story. While the characters are together in the story, this probably isn't the way they actually hooked up. Hey, I wanted her to relate to Sam, okay? If you'd like to hear more about the Dark/Zodiac Slayers, feel free to e-mail me. Maybe if I feel daring, I might even post it on 's other website for original work.  
  
and lastly, 4. Yes, this is the real ending for 'For the Love of the Halfa.' No, it is not the end of the story of Sam and Danny, our favorite Halfas. Didn't you see the ending? There is something much, much bigger for our heroes to face next time. So look out for the next part of the story, "Return To Me, For the Love of a Halfa 2." 


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